Hi Bill,
	We may interested in having some slag for interpretive purposes for our bloomer but maybe only 2 gallons.

Keith R. Doms
Newlin Grist Mill 
Site Manager
219 S. Cheyney Rd.
Glen Mills, PA  19342
(610) 459-2359
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-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bill Liebeknecht
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2015 12:48 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Sample size for mid-18th century iron slag future analysis

Hunter Research, Inc. (HRI) recently reported on a mid-18th century suspected slave quarter site in southern Delaware for DelDOT.  At this site HRI excavated a bog-iron bloomery pit in which nearly the contents of the entire pit were collected.  The assemblage is a complete array of the pit (minus non-sag artifacts) from 1/16 of an inch on up to numerous partial blooms.  Carl Blair (Michigan Tech Univ.) conducted the analysis of this material and agreed with the excavators that the bloomery pit appears to be of West African style.  The Data Recovery report (including Blair's
analysis) for the site (Farmer's Delight An 18th-Century Plantation in Southern Delaware) can be found on DelDOT's website.  Our dilemma is that we have 25 gallons of slag remaining (Michigan Tech Univ. has the other half) but the Delaware State Museum does not the space to house the slag.  

The HPO is asking us how much of a sample should they retain, given that they cannot retain the entire collection.  Any thoughts?  If the collection is to sampled, is there anyone out there that would want the remaining slag given that this assemblage is quite unique, dating to the mid-18th century,
and very likely slave-related.   You don't run into mid-18th century
bloomery slag every day.  It is not so much the different types of slag, but the package which reflects the process and the skill level of those who worked the bog iron into useful products.  Anyone interested?

Please contact:

Bill Liebeknecht, MA, RPA
Principal Investigator
Hunter Research, Inc.
120 West State Street
Trenton, NJ 08608-1185
Cell# 856-448-2566