A RECONNAISSANCE STUDY OF ANCIENT IRON SLAGS FROM TUSCAN METALWORKING SITES: PRELIMINARY REPORT ON ETRUSCO-ROMAN TO MEDIEVAL SITES FROM ELBA ISLAND AND CHIANTI REGION.

Tuscany represents the site of longstanding mining activity for metal production, dating back at least to early Iron Age. Several iron, base- and precious metal deposits have been actively exploited by the Etruscans, the Romans, as well as in medieval and Renaissance times. Metal production (Fe, Cu, Ag, Sn, Pb) through smelting and refining processes was achieved at several sites, mostly concentrated in main mining districts of Tuscany. Variable volumes of "metallurgical debris" (slags with fragments offurnaces and other refractories, remains of ores, fluxes, fuel, and, eventually, smelted metal itself) can still be found at many of these sites. In the framework of a reconnaissance study on ancient metal workings of Tuscany, we report in this paper the first data on the slags found at four iron archaeometallurgical sites, including the etruscan (Vllth century BC) settlement of Poggio La Croce (Chianti region), and, in the Elba Island, the etrusco-roman sites of Pomonte and S. Andrea and the medieval one at La Zanca. The mineralogical, textural, physical and compositional features of the analyzed slags from various sites are compared and discussed in terms of the chemicophysical parameters of metallurgical processes.