Archaeological evidence of independent iron production from the 9th-century rural settlement of Bořitov (Blansko district, Czechia)

0562663 - ARÚB 2024 RIV CZ eng J - Journal Article
Mikulec, R. - Hlavica, Michal - Kmošek, Matěj
Archaeological evidence of independent iron production from the 9th-century rural settlement of Bořitov (Blansko district, Czechia).
Archaeologia historica. Roč. 47, č. 2 (2022), s. 763-794. ISSN 0231-5823
Grant - others:AV ČR(CZ) StrategieAV21/28
Program: StrategieAV
Institutional support: RVO:68081758
Keywords : Early Middle Ages * Great Moravia * iron smelting * smithy * slags * XRF * XRD * SEM/EDS
OECD category: Archaeology
Method of publishing: Open access
https://digilib.phil.muni.cz/handle/11222.digilib/digilib.76769

The study attempts to show the potential of iron slags to answer questions about the organization of iron production in 9th-century Moravia. As a case study, it evaluates a small archaeological assemblage from the contemporary rural settlement of Bořitov, where basic contextual and macroscopic evaluation in combination with various archaeometric analyses (pXRF, ED-XRF, XRD, SEM/EDS) of iron slags made it possible to recognize the smelting of iron ore, as well as its further processing in a reheating hearth and smithy. Taking into account some other finds connected with iron production as well as the specific geographic position of Bořitov, these results also indicate that the community in Bořitov could have been beyond the reach of regional elites and might thus have acted as independent producers with the main purpose to saturate their own demand and/or exchange the surplus.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0338399