Tin smelting slags from Crift Farm, Cornwall, and the effect of changing technology on slag composition

摘要

Tin-smelting slag from an early medieval site at Crift Farm in Cornwall was analysed using SEM/EDS. A comparison was made between the chemical composition of th is slag, which was produced by a simple hand-blowing technology; and slag from seven tin-working sites of later date which employed a more sophisticated water-powered blowing-house technology. The chemical compositions of areas within single pieces of slag were found to be highly variable. This is suggestive of a highly viscous material, with little mixing during smelting. The Crift Farm slag was found to have a chemical composition sufficiently similar to the later 'blowing house, slugs that it could not be distinguished from them by this method of analysis.