Abstract
A substantial indigenous tin-smelting industry arose in the Rooiberg valley of northern South Africa in the second millennium CE. This study concentrates upon tin-smelting slags and refractory ceramics from two archaeological sites that date between ca. 1650 CE and ca. 1850 CE. These were studied by optical and electron microscopy, wavelength-dispersive x-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF), inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and electron microprobe (EMPA). The slags are predominantly glassy; high SnO and relatively low SiO2 contents indicate that tin is a major glass-forming element. Comparison of slag chemistries with the mineralogy of ore deposits and host rocks shows that alluvial cassiterite was used at one of the sites, while cassiterite from hard-rock mining was smelted at the other site. Since few preindustrial tin slags have been studied, we compare our findings to other published examples, mostly from southwest England.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1656-1669 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Journal of Archaeological Science |
Volume | 37 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2010 |
Keywords
- Metallurgy
- Rooiberg
- Slags
- Smelting
- South Africa
- Tin
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Archaeology
- Archaeology