Thanks, Jamie.  These references will be helpful in our efforts to deal with the
metal fining remains that we have encountered here.  The material recovered is not
extensive, but we're interested in better understanding its significance in the site
history and this advances that end.

    Chris

"J. H. Brothers" wrote:

> Chris,
>
> First, I'm not an archaeometallurgist.  But, I am an advocate for responsible
> industrial archaeology.   What follows is by no means an exhaustive reference
> list.  Part of the problem is finding many of the journals.  I have found very few
> university or other research libraries that carry them and inter library loan is
> not always successful.  To date, I have not found a good index to articles.  I
> have used the expedient of immediately turning to the bibliography of any article
> I get and immediately doing an inter library loan request on anything that sounds
> interesting.  I would appreciate any suggestions for more efficient methods.
> Another good place to seek help is the arch-metals list.  It is a predominantly
> European list, but the members are very helpful.  The list's address is:
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> In 1968 Ivor Noël Hume wrote Historical Archaeology: A comprehensive guide for
> both amateurs and professionals to the techniques and methods of excavating
> historical sites.  In it he wrote :
>
>     In the excavation of domestic sites, archaeological competence must be coupled
> with a general
>     understanding of the life of the period.  But just about anything else we dig
> requires relevant
>     specialized knowledge.  I touched on this in the first chapter, but it cannot
> be emphasized too
>     often.  On a manufacturing site, we must understand the process involved and
> be able
>     to identify  both the components and the products... Some excavators may think
> that
>     industrial sites are not of major historical importance, but I would strongly
> disagree with
>     them.  We live in a nation that takes pride in its technological supremacy,
> and therefore the
>     history of American technology is just as worthy of our attention as
> chronicles of battles,
>     parties, and politicians.  It is a subject whose early chapters are
> distressingly thin, largely
>     because the pioneers were more concerned with getting on with their work than
> with
>     writing about it.  [Noël Hume 1975:161-12]
>
>     It is reasonable, I hope, to assume that the director who plans to work on an
> ironworking
>     complex extending from smelting and refining to mills for rolling and slitting
> will first read
>     all available literature on the subject, both contemporary and modern.
> [pp.178-79]
>
> First and foremost I would encourage anyone contemplating working on an iron
> related site to read Robert Gordon's American Iron (1996, Johns Hopkins)).  And
> for the record I do not get a commission on sales.  Bob has also written a number
> of excellent articles, papers, and books on the iron industry, metallography, and
> slag analysis.  These include:
>
>  1982 The metallurgical museum of Yale college and nineteenth century ferrous
> metallurgy in New England.  Journal of Metals (JOM) 34:26-33.
>  1983 Materials for manufacturing: the response of the Connecticut iron industry
> to limited resources and technological change.  Technology and Culture 24:602-34.
>  1988 Strength and structure of wrought iron.  Archeomaterials 2:109-137.
>  1992 Industrial Archeology of American Iron and Steel.  IA, The Journal of the
> Society for Industrial Archeology, Vol. 18(1&2):5-18.
>  1995 Material Evidence of Ironmaking Techniques.  IA, The Journal of the Society
> for Industrial Archeology, Vol. 21(2):69-80.
>  1997 Process Deduced From Ironmaking Wastes and Artifacts.  Journal of
> Archaeological Science 24:9-18.
>
> Gordon, Robert B. and David J. Killick
>  1993 Adaptation of technology to culture and environment: bloomery smelting in
> America and Africa.  Technology and Culture  34:243-70.
>
> Gordon, Robert B. and Patrick M. Malone
>  1994 The Texture of Industry: An Archaeological View of the Industrial Revolution
> of North America.  Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford.
>
> Gordon, Robert B. and N. J. Van der Merwe
>  1984 Metallographic Study of Iron Artifacts from the Eastern Transvaal, South
> Africa.  Archaeometry  26:108-127.
>
> Books and articles by other authors include:
>
> Bachmann, Hans-Gert
>  1982 The Identification of Slags From Archaeological Sites.  Institute of
> Archaeology Occasional Publication No. 6.  University of London, London.
>
> Starley, David
>  1999 Determining the Technological Origins of Iron and Steel. Journal of
> Archaeological Science  26:1127?1133.
>
> Cleere, Henry, David Crossley, Bernard Worssam, and The Wealden Iron Research
> Group
>  1995 The Iron Industry of the Weald.  2nd Edition, edited by Jeremy Hodgkinson.
> Merton Priory Press, Cardiff.
>
> Tylecote, R. F.
>  1962 Metallurgy in Archaeology: A Prehistory of Metallurgy in the British Isles.
> Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd., London.
>  1976 A History of Metallurgy.  The Metals Society, London.
>  1980 Furnaces, Crucibles, and Slags.  In The Coming of the Age of Iron, edited by
> Theodore A. Wertime and James D. Muhly, pp. 183-228.  Yale University Press, New
> Haven and London.
>  1981 The Medieval Smith and His Methods.  In Mediaeval Industry, edited by D. W.
> Crossley, pp. 42-50. Council for British Archaeology Research Report No. 40,
> Oxford.
>  1986 The Prehistory of Metallurgy in the British Isles.  The Institute of Metals,
> London.
>  1987 The early history of metallurgy in Europe.  Longman, London and New York.
>  1991 Iron in the Industrial Revolution.  In The Industrial Revolution in Metals,
> edited by R. F. Tylecote and Joan Day, pp. 200-260.  The Institute of Metals,
> London.
>
> Much of Tylecote's material deals with non-ferrous metallurgy.  Also most of it is
> medieval and before, so it is of limited use on a 19th century American site.
>
> Tylecote, R. F., J.M. Austin, and A.E. Wraith
>  1971 The Mechanism of the Bloomery Process in Shaft Furnaces. Journal of the Iron
> and Steel Institute 209:342-363.
>
> Tylecote, R. F. and Joan Day (editors)
>  1991 The Industrial Revolution in Metals,  The Institute of Metals, London.
>
> And for those who want to get really technical:
>
> Turkdogan, E. T.
>  1983 Physiochemical properties of molten slags and glasses.  The Metals Society,
> London.
>
> I am sure that Bob gordon (Yale) or Dave Killick (Arizona) could produce a more
> focused list.  My interest, at this point, is primarily 17/18th century.
> Christopher Murphy wrote:
>
> > Ned, Adrian, Jamie or others,
> >     We have a modest amount of slag on the site of the former Augusta Arsenal,
> > but no systemic slag analysis program (we are careful not to dump it, but don't
> > have any clear plan of what to do with it either).
> >
> >     Would any of you who feel strongly about this care to suggest reference
> > sources to guide those of us who are not well informed regarding
> > archaeometallurgy.  I, for one, would be happy to receive some guidance (on
> > list or off) and I hope that Jamie will be publishing his upcoming paper or be
> > willing to make copies available to interested parties.  I will not be able to
> > be at the SHA to hear it read.
> >
> >     Chris Murphy