Copper Slag Research Paper

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The Enigma of Flat Copper Slag Remains from Central Himalaya: Evidence of late Bronze Age Site? Amita Gupta HNB Garhwal University, Visiting Scholar, University of Fribourg Vinod Nautiyal HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar, Uttarakhand Abstract Early metallurgy of central Himalayan is became mystery for archaeologist. A mound of Copper slag has been reported by the author during her research field work. Due to their macroscopic properties, the slags are divided into five slag types: Coarse (type A), Flat -Slag (type B) and Massive (type C), Coarse Massive (type D), Fluid (type D). Flat slag is first time reported from archaeological site Pokhri in Garhwal central Himalaya India. All other archaeological Site flat slag has been dated for Bronze …show more content…

Pine and birch are used for making charcoal. Their properties are differing with each other. After experimenting process many scholars suggest that birch tree is good for forging. There is no evidence of which tree was used for making coal but probably it was understood always, for classical antiquity this understanding is recorded. Pliny wrote that the best charcoal for ore smelting made of oak. Atkinson also mentions in his gazetteer that the charcoal used by the refiner is made from the dry trunks of fir trees (देवदार) which have been felled for two or more years, while the smelter is using small green wood. Contrary to this smiths preferred nit such dense charcoal from a fir, it ignites and crushed better (Forbes 1958, p. 20, …show more content…

In the course of the flat slags formation process, the recycled charge was mainly made by bornite and covellite-chalcocite as the matte formed by the procedure of the massive slag formation. Fayalitic slags and raw copper were formed by heating the Bo-Cv-Ch charge with quartz. The low porosity of the slags allowed a good separation between the raw copper and the slags. The three types of slags that show the most significant differences from the point of view of the macroscopic features are the coarse, the flat and the massive types. The coarse type is constituted by slags with irregular shapes, high porosity and the diffuse presence of unreacted quartz relics and other minerals of the charge. The third process hypothesis regards only one step in the pyrometallurgical process from which two types of slags were produced depending on the different position of formation that the slags had into the furnace. On the basis of the macroscopic features (smooth sides), it is possible that they formed themselves directly at the surface of the raw molten

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