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Iron Age Britons Used Slag-Tapping Furnaces Before the Roman Conquest
Radiocarbon dates from an iron-production site in Kent suggest that British metalworkers were draining molten slag from their furnaces before the Roman conquest of AD 43. The evidence comes from excavations at Junction 5 of the M2 motorway, where archaeologists uncovered furnaces and waste left behind by iron smelting. Some of the slag shows that…
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2,400-Year-Old Iron Workshop Discovered in Senegal Reveals Long-Lost African Metallurgy Tradition
A 2,400-year-old iron workshop in Senegal is forcing archaeologists to rethink how and where iron technology developed in the ancient world. Excavated in the Falémé River Valley, the site reveals not a short-lived experiment, but a remarkably stable production system that operated for nearly 800 years. The discovery, led by researchers from the University of…