INVESTIGATIONS OF A SLAG FROM COPPER SMELTING DISCOVERED AT THE BRONZE AGE SITE PREIN VII/CU IN LOWER AUSTRIA

摘要

Investigations of slags are of interest to understand the smelting processes and to find out the process parameters which were used in the Bronze Age. The melting temperature of the slag depends on its chemical composition and should be determined without ambient material.The complexity of slag characterization is described by analysing one specimen of a Bronze Age slag from Prein in Lower Austria. It was investigated by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). Due to the inhomogeneous element distribution in the sample a wide range of results was obtained. To describe the melting properties of a slag, correlations between microstructure, chemical composition and the phase diagram are necessary. A FeO-SiO_2-CaO( + MgO+Al-2O_3) ratio is calculated, because using other oxide combinations induce unrealistic results. To compare slag analyses all over the world, it is necessary to give full information about microstructure, chemical composition and calculation methods.