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The protohistorical ironworking at Prague-Bubeneč. An industrial site under a microscope.

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2017

Abstract

Prague-Bubeneč is an example of a geographically well-defined area with dense and continual prehistorical settlement activity. The evidence of ironworking is in scale of Central Bohemian Region unusually rich, so the site traditionally served as an example of an "industrial site".

The excavations in Papírenská street (2011) uncovered almost 500 m2 of new terrains from La Tène and Early Roman period. Among the most interesting features are a late La Tène smithy with a rich collection of convex smithing slags and iron artifacts, an Early Roman metallurgical workshop and some further evidence of copper-alloys metallurgy.

The material from the whole chaîne opératoire was sorted out and analysed using various methods (petrography, silicate analysis, EDS/SEM). This preliminary report compares the main discoveries in their technological aspects with its archaeological background.