engleski

Methods of documenting iron production waste finds: the role of digital photogrammetry

The process of direct (bloomery) iron production, that was used from prehistory till the middle ages, often produces a large amount of waste. Dependent on the production process and the procedures used, several categories of waste are likely to be present on the archaeological sites. The general categories of waste can be: iron slag from different procedures of the production process, such as iron ore smelting or primary/secondary smithing, and the remains of technical ceramics from smelting furnaces and/or smithing installations. Methodological approach to primary documentation of these finds must be organized in relation to the character of standard, mainly destructive procedures used for further analysis and interpretation, as well as a cost-effective way of meaningfully documenting large amounts of metallurgical waste that often occurs on sites with the iron production remains. The authors will present the primary documentation methods used in the treatment of in situ smelting furnaces and other metallurgical waste from several sites that can be regarded as iron production and processing workshops. All of the sites are situated in the Podravina region, and are dated to late antiquity and early middle ages (4 – 8/9th century AD). The main objective for the selection of documenting procedures was to gain an optimal level of output information while securing a low level of data loss. The chosen approach allows further application of various analytical methods, reconstructive modeling and visualizations. Authors will elaborate on the methods used, analysis employed and information gained, with an emphasis on photographic documentation and further digital processing such as image based 3d modelling.

archaeological documentation ; iron production waste ; photogrammetry ; image based 3d modelling

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