R Alan Williams

Abstract

Linking the Great Orme Bronze Age copper mine to British metalwork by analysing ores, copper prills from Pentrwyn and particles of bronze found in the mine is an on-going project. This paper focuses on the smelting slags and prills recovered during the 2011 excavations from the Pentrwyn site, the only smelting site known from the British Bronze Age. They indicate the use of a simple smelting process which used secondary carbonate ores with only residual sulphides. The unusual slags are low in silica, like the ores, and lack any additives which resulted in only a small amount of glassy phase being produced. Hence, the copper prills must have been recovered by crushing, which matches the small size of the slag pieces. Lead isotope results link the slags to the Great Orme ores. The analyses of the copper prills show variable trace element levels, sometimes with significant levels of arsenic and nickel, consistent with
a proportion of British Bronze Age metalwork.

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Keywords
References
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How to Cite
Linking Bronze Age copper smelting slags from Pentrwyn on the Great Orme to ore and metal. (2021). Historical Metallurgy, 47(1), 93-110. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/113
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How to Cite

Linking Bronze Age copper smelting slags from Pentrwyn on the Great Orme to ore and metal. (2021). Historical Metallurgy, 47(1), 93-110. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/113