Chris Williams Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 https://www.timesofisrael.com/evidence-of-first-metallurgy-furnaces-from-6500-years-ago-found-in-beersheba/ Link is to an article that describes a recent find of early furnace designs and a short video of an experimental archeology version of the furnace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 It's an interesting article for a newspaper. Better, the tab wanting me to accept cookies only covered a small area at the bottom and I could scroll the article past and read it. Sorry, demands to subscribe are a pet peeve of mine. I liked what the article had to say and would like more. This stuff has interested me since I was a kid. Thank you for the link. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Williams Posted October 4, 2020 Author Share Posted October 4, 2020 You're welcome. I didn't read any banners or tabs, so I hadn't noticed that they demanded subscription. I was able to read the whole thing and watch the video just by following the Google News link. The news article did provide the name for the academic paper, but I hadn't had time to look for it, and certainly wouldn't have the journal subscription needed if it wasn't public (which is likely). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Hmm, I'll look for it on Google News. Was the video more than about 1 minute long? I was hoping to see some of the results, watching college kids try to figure out where to point the bellows was short lived amusement. I'll do a little looking, loose the hounds, the article is afoot! That was quick, that article is published all over the mid east. Google News didn't include the subscribe banners nor some of the more religious conclusions some news papers added. Now to search out the wilier journal papers for a meatier read. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Williams Posted October 4, 2020 Author Share Posted October 4, 2020 Well, I don't know what to think about this... Now the article doesn't mention the research paper name. The video (short ~1 minute as you noticed) isn't embedded anymore, but there is a link to a Facebook page. I don't use Facebook, so I searched out the project name and found this: https://www.tau.ac.il/~ebenyose/CTV/index.html I think I may have found a university page for the individual responsible for researching the site, but that is speculative. http://journals.ed.ac.uk/lithicstudies/article/view/1678/2303 This is the same general location but different period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 I'm not having any luck either and prefer not to log onto facebook pages if I don't know them. I have enough people mining my computer for data. We wouldn't want to miss out on any valuable offers would we? Maybe it or a link turn up in another archeology publication. This, now you see em, now you don't, behavior just seems too dodgy to me to chase too hard. Maybe someone will turn it up and let us know. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 No facebook; so what type of bellows were they using? Bowl bellows? Goatskin bag???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Williams Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 The video only showed the nozzle, which looked modern; it wasn't obvious just what they were using. As the article has been edited in place (again!), I don't know the paper name to look up the details. I have found that whatever the name, it is (will be?) published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, which is open access! I haven't found it yet searching their articles for "copper" or "copper smelting." I did serendipitously stumble upon "Towards better reconstruction of smelting temperatures: Methodological review and the case of historical K-rich Cu-slags from the Old Copper Basin, Poland" https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-archaeological-science https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440320300649 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 I was part of the build/smelting crew for a short stack Scandinavian bloomery; one of the experiments we did was using two single action bellows for the air supply. We had to change off fairly quickly as we were working full out to get the amount of air we needed. Also we were close to the bloomery and had a dedicated person dousing us with water when sparks landed on us. From experience I can say that the Champion 400 hand crank blower is a MASSIVELY better air source in such endeavors! (The primaries of these bloomery experiments presented on "10 years of Scandinavian Short Stack Bloomery Experiments" at the Ironmasters Conference held at Athens Ohio.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Mr. C. Williams, Thank you very much for the references that you posted. They look that they will be very useful, for me, going forward. I just noticed the, copper smelting, article above. Thanks for that too. SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stash Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 It is refreshing to see a thread about smelting copper actually be about smelting copper! Thanks for the link. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Wasn't there an old joke about the person who smelt it; reduced it or refined it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 Thanks for the links Chris. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Williams Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 Thomas, The only copper oxide reduction I've performed personally was with hydrogen gas in a TGA. I didn't smell a thing, honest! (Even had there not been an exhaust connected to the fume hood exhaust, I would not have noticed a few grams of H2O vapor in the lab.) SLAG, I am glad that you find the information to be of value. I must admit that "open access" was not particularly common during my academic years, and I hadn't thought to look for such a resource before. Stash and Frosty, You're welcome for the links. I remember while growing up that although I could find a few books on ancient technology in the library, many details were shrugged off as lost to the sands of time. It fascinates me to see what we have learned since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 Chris; are you on the Archeological Metallurgy Mailing list? Fairly low volume; but I've discovered a lot of interesting stuff off it over the years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 Thomas, I may have neglected to add that AMML list to my net addresses. Can you supply a url of same to this thread? In searching for it I came across this 'site'/list. https://blog.feedspot.com/archaeology_blogs/ it might prove to be of value to some of the folks on this thread. SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Williams Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 Thomas, I am not. How would I go about having placement on the list? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 Sent by PM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Williams Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X20303692 Found it. "Firing up the furnace: New insights on metallurgical practices in the Chalcolithic Southern Levant from a recently discovered copper-smelting workshop at Horvat Beter (Israel)." Unfortunately, this article is not open access. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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