@article{52390ef20d4542fd9aa40d949eea1bc3,
title = "The technology of tin smelting in the Rooiberg Valley, Limpopo Province, South Africa, ca. 1650-1850 CE",
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.",
keywords = "Metallurgy, Rooiberg, Slags, Smelting, South Africa, Tin",
author = "Shadreck Chirikure and Heimann, {Robert B.} and David Killick",
note = "Funding Information: Field archaeology and laboratory studies were funded by U.S. National Science Foundation Grant BCS-0542135. Field archaeology at Rooiberg was also supported by grants from the South African National Research Foundation project to Dr Simon Hall (University of Cape Town). Dr Hall kindly supplied Figs. 1 and 2 in this paper. The authors are particularly grateful to Dr David Reid (Department of Geology, University of Cape Town) for developing the XRF protocol for analysis of tin- and zirconium-rich materials, and to Dr Andreas Spath for the ICP-MS trace element analyses. At the University of Arizona, we thank Gary Chandler and Steven Hernandez (Materials Science and Engineering) for assistance with SEM, and Dr Ken Domanik (Lunar and Planetary Sciences) for help with the microprobe. Dr Duncan Miller and Dr Simon Hall discussed these results with us, and practical assistance rendered by Thomas Fenn and Dana Drake Rosenstein is much appreciated. This paper has been greatly improved by helpful criticisms from Dr Thilo Rehren (University College London) and two anonymous reviewers, to who we express our gratitude.",
year = "2010",
month = jul,
doi = "10.1016/j.jas.2010.01.026",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "37",
pages = "1656--1669",
journal = "Journal of Archaeological Science",
issn = "0305-4403",
publisher = "Academic Press Inc.",
number = "7",
}