Archaeometallurgical characterisation of ancient copper slags from pre-Harappan site, Kunal, India

Abstract

The copper slags collected during the excavation of the Early Harappan period site at Kunal in northern India were studied to understand the advancement of smelting technology and the achieved smelting temperature in the furnace by undertaking archaeometallurgical characterisation of the slags. In this research, two types of slags such as slag with glassy appearance and granulated slag were selected for the study. The microscopic structure and distribution of slag components were investigated using optical microscopy and phase determination was done by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Chemical characterization of the slags was conducted using scanning electron microscopy–energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) and inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry to build a complete chemical profile of the slags. Fayalite and magnetite were the dominant phases in the glassy slag; however, the granulated slag showed the dominance of calcite as secondary phase which reflected the dolomitic stoichiometry of the slag. The presence of dominant fayalite mineral phase as detected by XRD and higher concentration of iron as detected by XRF indicated the reducing environment during the smelting process. In this study, the absence of sulphur is reported which is unique to the ancient copper slag.