TN 616 66 UC-NRLF THE METALS IN ANTIQUITY (The Huxley Memorial Lecture for 1912.) BY WILLIAM GOWLAND, ti Assoc. R.S.M., F.R.S., F.S.A., Emeritus Professor of Metallurgy at the Royal School of Mines. [WITH .PLATES XXV-XXIX.] PUBLISHED BY THE $nf0ropofogtcaf 3ngfifufe of (great Q&nfatn and 3refanb 50, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, LONDON, W.C. [1] 235 THE METALS IN ANTIQUITY. The Huxley Memorial Lecture for 1912. BY WILLIAM GOWLAND, Assoc. R.S.M., F.R.S., F.S.A., Emeritus Professor of Metallurgy at the Royal School of Mines. THE only records available to us of man before he became acquainted with metals are written in the remains which have been unearthed from time to time in the caves or sites where he led a precarious existence, in the districts over which he wandered, in the mounds or places in which he was interred, or in the debris of terrestrial denudation, river gravels and the like. The same, too, is true of later man during the early metal ages. But as time rolls on and the ruder arts and usages gradually develop into a civilization approaching, and indeed in some respects equalling, or even excelling that of our own day, the evidence afforded by the remains is supplemented by those records of the past which we find in the clay tablets of Chaldaea and Assyria, the papyri and inscriptions of Egypt and the literature of ancient Greece and Rome. As regards metals, however, the chief and often the only evidence on which reliance can be placed is that derived from the same source as in the j>re Archaeologia, vol. Ivii, p. 120. Reproduced by permission of the Society of Antiquaries. 266 WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. [32] No. Silver. Copper. Gold. Iron. Lead. Nickel. Analyst. 1 95 -61 3-41 0-17 0-38 0-22 Roberts- Austen. 2 95-59 3 '23 '30 0-12 0-44 Percy. 3 95 -15 3 '44 -47 0-07 0-33 Gowland. Now Roman silver was undoubtedly obtained from argentiferous lead by cupellation, and as the specimens from Mycenae and Hissarlik are practically identical in composition with it, the silver of which they consist must have been obtained by the same process. In this connection the assays of Eoman silver objects in the British Museum, which I have been permitted to make through the courtesy of Sir Hercules Read, are of considerable interest. They gave the following percentages of silver : Spoon, 95'64 ; dish, 94'30 ; dish, 92'50 ; rirn of vessel, 95'52 ; bottom of another vessel, 94'90 ; patera, 95'15 ; large dish, 95 - 09. In these assays the proportion of silver present ranges from 92'5 to 95'6 per cent., which would almost seem to indicate that this composition was aimed at by the Romans for what may be termed silver plate and was of the nature of a definite standard. In the history of culture the discovery of silver and the application of the metal to useful purposes play a minor yet by no means an insignificant part. Less widely distributed than copper and more difficult to extract from its ores, wanting in the properties which made bronze so valuable for implements and weapons and in early times less abundant than even gold, it seems to have been but little used until a few centuries before Mycenaean times. In North Europe silver was almost entirely unknown or at least unused in pre-Roman times, and even in South Europe it is of rare occurrence in the Bronze Age. In the pile dwellings of the European lakes it has not been found excepting in association with objects of the Iron Age, nor has its occurrence been noted in the terra marcc of the Po valley. Probably the earliest specimen is a pin, which was found in Central Italy and has been ascribed by Montelras to the first part of the Bronze Age, to which he gives the date 2100 to 1950 B.C. The localities whence the ancient peoples of the Mediterranean region derived their silver were all within comparatively easy reach. The deposits of Macedonia, Thrace, Laurion, Siphnos, Sardinia, the south-east of the Euxine and the west of Asia Minor were all available to the Minoans and Mycenaeans, whilst in the times of Phoenician maritime enterprise and of Greek and Roman ascendancy, Spain especially, Gaul, Britain, Dalmatia, and numerous sites in Asia Minor all afforded more or less abundant suppplies of the metal. In Asia Minor the remains of old workings have been discovered in many places, notably in the back country to the south, south-west, and south-east of Trapesue (mod. Trebizonde), Northern [33] WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. 267 Armenia, Anatolia, and near Balia on the north-east of Mount Ida, and several have been reopened and are now worked by mining companies. It is difficult to arrange in exact chronological sequence the ancient silver objects which the excavations and researches of archaeologists have revealed to us. Some of the earliest present such technical skill, not only in the purification of silver but also in its fabrication into elegant and graceful forms, that it would almost seem as if the very first examples of the use of the metal had not come down to us. It should, however, be remembered in relation to this, that long prior ^ to the utilization of either of the precious metals, copper and bronze objects, perfect in workmanship and excellent in design, were not uncommon, and in the manufacture of these the metal workers had acquired great experience and skill in the fashioning and decoration of metals. For the earliest use of silver there is much evidence to show that we must pass eastward out of Europe into Asia, but in which parts of Asia lay the original home of silver, whether in the east in China or in the west in Asia Minor, the data for arriving at an absolutely definite conclusion are insufficient. The earliest use of the metal has been claimed for China, where as early as 2400 B.C. three metals are said to have been used as barter, the yellow, the white, and the red, namely, gold, silver, and copper. It was without doubt known in that country in very remote times, but Chinese chronology, whilst possessing the quality of precision, lacks that of accuracy, so that it is quite impossible to assign an even approximate date to most of the records contained in the ancient books. But it is almost certain that for the oldest objects of silver yet found we have to go to Western Asia, where some remarkable specimens of early work in silver have been unearthed by the excavations -of Schliemann at Hassarlik, which, in fact, if the dates attributed to the strata in which they were found are correct, are the most ancient examples of wrought silver in the world. They consist of a silver pin, an ear-ring and a piece of wire, which were found in the lowest city to which the date 3000 to 2500 B.C. has been ascribed by Tsountas and Manatt. In a higher stratum, containing the remains of the Third City (2500 to 2000 B.C.), the prehistoric fortress of Dorpfeld, there was quite a wealth of silver vessels and objects, comprising eleven vases, goblets, jugs, etc., six silver bars, some personal ornaments as well as crucibles in which gold and silver had been melted. Several of the vases and goblets are of graceful forms and delicate workman- ship, indicating not only remarkable technical skill in the working of the silver, but also that the metal had been refined by the process of cupellation. That this process had been employed in the purification of the silver, which has been used for the silver bars, I have already shown on page 264. As regards the Minoans, the comparative absence of silver objects at Knossos is difficult to understand, in view of the facts that they were specially distinguished as a sea-faring people, and must, therefore, have had communication with the silver- c 268 WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. [34] bearing regions near the coast of the Aegean and of Asia Minor, and their vessels and utensils of bronze and their work in gold testify to their skill as artificers in metal. The only explanation that seems possible is that the city was not only destroyed by fire, but was plundered before its destruction. On the other hand, objects of the metal should have been found in the tombs. Somewhat later in time, at Mycenae (about 1600 to 1200 B.C.), in addition to the wonderfully lavish employment of gold, we find silver also freely in use, chiefly for the fabrication of vessels, some of which are of imposing size, notably a silver vase found in the First Sepulchre, which is 2 feet 6 inches high and 1 foot 8 inches diameter at the body. They are generally plain, and when ornamented with repousse or other designs the artistic work is inferior and coarser than that executed in gold. The famous cow's head with golden horns, found by Schliemann in the Fourth Sepulchre at Mycenae, a perfect specimen of artistic modelling, and one of the Vaphio cups form, however, exceptions to this rule. An analysis of a portion of one of the vases from Mycenae was made in Dr. Percy's laboratory. The analysis is given in the table, page 266, where it will be seen that its composition is practically identical with that of one of the silver bars from Hissarlik, and that silver refined by cupellation had been used in its fabrication. In a later age the Homeric poems testify to the importance of silver as a valuable metal for vessels of various kinds, and to its manifold applications to the ornamentation of furniture, chariots, weapons, etc. Alybe, on the southern shores of the Euxine, is mentioned as the home of silver, from which it would appear that the famous argentiferous deposits of Laurion in Attica had not been discovered. Greece was then evidently dependent on Phoenician commerce for its supplies of silver and silver wares. In Chaldaea there is quite an absence of silver in the early graves which have been explored at Warka and Mugheir, yet amongst the remains not only copper, bronze, and gold, but also lead and iron were found. As lead occurs, the absence of silver is the more remarkable. It is very difficult to account for this, in view of the comparative abundance of the metal at Hissarlik. The source which furnished the early inhabitants of the Troad with silver was probably the mining district to the south-east of Trebizonde and south-west of Asia Minor, and these were accessible to the Chaldaeans, and they must have been acquainted with the ore deposits of Armenia and Kurdistan, otherwise whence did they obtain their copper and iron ? Moreover, the records of somewhat later times show that the metal was received as tribute, formed part of the spoils of war, and vast amounts had accumulated in Nineveh. In Egypt there is a marked absence of silver objects in early times, which is difficult of explanation. Silver wire and silver rings of the XVII Ith dynasty, about 1600 to 1400 B.C., have indeed come down to us, but they are the only examples of the use of the metal in the country until a comparatively late date. [35] WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. 269 In the wrappings of mummies, gold ornaments were frequently employed whilst those of silver are rare. As there are no silver mines in Egypt, the metal was probably first obtained from the refining of the electrum of the Nubian gold mines, and later from the deposits in Asia, or as spoils in war. In the course of centuries, however, silver had accumulated to an extra- ordinary extent, if the accounts of the destruction of Thebes by Cambyses (526 B.C.) are only approximately true, when it is said that an almost fabulous amount of the metal, exceeding sixty tons in weight, was taken out of the rubbish. It might be supposed that the paucity of discoveries of silver objects of very remote times might be due to the destructive action of the weather, or of salts in the soil, on the metal. This is, however, by no means true. The metal resists well the action of all corrosive agents, commonly present in the air, rain and soil, excepting chlorides. In rain chlorine as sodium chloride is always present, it is also present in the soil. Hence silver objects which have been long buried are always more or less converted into silver chloride. Sometimes they are wholly changed into this substance, but generally a small unaltered core of silver exists within them which enables them to retain their shape. Even when completely changed into silver chloride their form is more or less retained; silver chloride, however, although comparatively soft and sectile is a very indestructible substance, so that even these ought to be found. Equally noteworthy with the peoples already mentioned are the Phoenicians, about whom, much has been written, often in error, as our knowledge of them is very far from being so complete as might be desired, and there are good grounds for holding that much which has been attributed to them really belongs to the early Aegean peoples. If the predominance of Sidon was reached in the tenth century B.C., and the supremacy of Mycenae came to an end in the twelfth century, the Phoenicians would seem to have been a great maritime people in late Mycenaean times and to have continued so for several centuries until the Greeks had wrested the sea power from them. They were then the merchants and traders of the world and as such had become rich in silver, which they obtained from Spain, Gaul, Thrace, the silver- bearing districts in Asia Minor already mentioned, and probably Laurion, and which they distributed in the form of finely wrought bowls, cups and other objects of the metal through the Aegean and other regions of the Mediterranean, Another ancient people, the Etruscans, are more noted for their bronze and iron than for their possessions of silver. Yet the excavations, which have been made on the ancient sites in Etruria and the explorations in the tombs tend to show that silver was in use to a considerable extent. Personal ornaments are rare, and the metal appears to have been chiefly used for bowls and vessels for domestic use, mounts for furniture and the like. In the famous Eegulini Galassi c 2 270 WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. [36] tomb (eighth or ninth century B.C.), whilst the objects of gold are numerous those of silver are but few. There is no evidence of silver mining in their territory, hence the metal must have been obtained by commercial intercourse. In Italy proper there are no deposits of silver-bearing ores, hence in the early days of Eome what little silver was required had to be obtained from without. In later times, at the close of the First Punic War (241 B.C.), the valuable mines which had been exploited by the Phoenicians in Sardinia came into the possession of the Eomans. About forty years later, as one of the results of the Second Punic War, the Phoenicians had to relinquish to them the mines of Spain, the most valuable in the ancient world. From that time the wealth of the Eomans in silver must have equalled if not exceeded that of the earlier nations of antiquity. Lead. The metal lead, although it must have been one of the first metals, if not the first to be obtained by the reduction of ores, on account of the low temperature required and its great fusibility, required but a brief notice, as being entirely wanting in the physical properties needed in weapons and implements and worthless as a constituent of bronze ; it was wholly without influence on the culture of the Bronze and Iron Ages. In fact, it could be and was only utilized by the peoples of antiquity after they had made those great advances in civilization which characterize the Chaldaean, Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, and Eonran nations at the height of their supremacy. As I have already pointed out the intimate connection existing between the metallurgy of lead and silver, and have described under the latter metal the smelting of lead ores, it is unnecessary to further consider the method of obtaining lead. As to the time when the metal was first known to man, there is as yet no absolutely decisive evidence. So far as my investigations have gone, it has not been found amongst any remains which can with certainty be attributed to the earliest Metal Age in Europe. Neither does it occur as a constituent of the metal of any implement or other object of that time, excepting in comparatively small proportions. But near the close of the Bronze and during the early part of the Iron Age, lead frequently appears in considerable proportions as a constituent of bronze, and when more than about 8 per cent is present it has undoubtedly, in nearly every case, been intentionally added. The following analyses in illustration of this may be cited : Copper. Lead. Tin. Iron. Analyst. Sword (Ireland) 83-50 8-35 5-15 3-00 Davy. Cauldron (Scotland) 84-08 8-53 7-19 0-03 G. Wilson. Socketed celts (Brittany)... 28 -5 to 32 -5 Trace to 1'50 Paligot. [37] WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. 271 In these copper-lead-tin bronzes it will be seen that the percentages of lead present range from 8'35 to as much as 32'5. In consequence of this they are so deficient in hardness and toughness that they are unsuitable for weapons or implements. It is hence difficult to conjecture why the socketed celts should have the composition given, unless they may have been intended merely as appurtenances of sepulture and not as implements for actual use. Objects of lead of the Bronze Age are but few in number. They consist only of unimportant articles, such as sinkers for nets and the like. Three socketed celts of the metal have indeed been found, but they must have been worthless for any practical purpose. This is somewhat remarkable, as in many localities in Europe rich lead ores then cropped out at the surface of the ground ; and it is hardly conceivable that the men who were able to smelt the difficult ores of copper should have either overlooked or been unable to treat the easier ores of lead. None of the leaden remains which have been found are earlier in date than the palstave or the socketed celt in either Britain, France, or Spain. The paucity and the trivial nature of these objects indicate clearly that the part played by lead in the culture of the time was of an insignificant character, and the metal was probably but little sought after. If we now turn to Western Asia we find a remote antiquity has been established for lead, by the discoveries of Schliemann at Hissarlik. In the Lowest City (3000 to 2500 B.C., Dorpfeld) the metal occurs in shapeless lumps. They are perhaps the most ancient specimens of lead in the world. In the Third City (2500 to 2000 B.C.) a figurine, and in the Fourth City (2000 to 1500 B.C.) a diminutive wheel, both of lead, were unearthed. The sources whence the people of the prehistoric towns at Hissarlik could obtain the metal were not far distant, in fact they lay at their very doors. In the mountain district to the north-east of Mount Ida, in Mysia, and at various points on the range of which Mount Olympus forms the prominent peak on the frontiers of Mysia and Bithynia, there are considerable deposits of argentiferous galena, and these it was which furnished the lead. It may be mentioned in this connection that the sites of several of the ancient workings for ore in this district have been exploited in recent years, notably at Hodsha-Gernish (Balia) to the north-east of Mount Ida, and at Karie-Sennluk and near Broussa on the Olympus range, and have yielded both lead and silver. For the culture of the primitive age represented by these remains it is evident that lead had but little importance, it is not, in fact, until the development of Mycenaean civilization had made considerable progress that it appears as a metal applied to useful purposes on a wider range. It was still, however, but scantily used. Discs of lead similar to those at Hissarlik were discovered at Mycenae, in the Vaphio tomb, and in the beehive tomb of Thoricas, but at the island fort of Gha in Lake Copals, in Boeotia, it was 272 WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. [38] found in the form of plaques, which are supposed to have been used for clamping door jambs to walls. At Tiryns it was found in the citadel, to which the date 1800 to 1600 B.C. has been ascribed, and in many places. Of these discoveries Schliemann writes : " There were found numerous fragments of large vases and jars bound together with clamps of lead, as well as occasional lead clamps, which must have served the same purpose. We found, also, many large melted lumps of lead, as well as one large piece in the form of half a pig, and several fragments of sheet lead." Specially worthy of note is a leaden statuette which was found by Dr. Tsoimtas in a beehive tomb in Laconia. It is a casting of remarkable merit, and as it probably exemplifies the " elementary costume of the Mycenaean people, it is also of great archaeological interest. " Great leaden jars, as much as 3 feet high, used mainly for storing grain," are mentioned as being in use in the Mycenaean Age, but I have so far failed to find any record of the actual discovery of such vessels. The rich deposits of argentiferous galena, which occur on an extensive scale in the region of Laurion in Attica, afforded the Mycenaean people ample supplies of both lead and silver. These deposits, in the earliest times, as is shown by the numerous superficial workings, were exposed at the surface of the ground, and I think there can be little doubt that the mines of Laurion, so famous in a later age, had been previously worked by them. The discovery of three domed tombs, containing undoubted Mycenaean remains, at Thoricos, in the mining region of Laurion, in the vicinity of many primitive superficial mining excavations, affords very strong evidence indeed in favour of this view. If we pass now to another region of ancient civilization, the country lying between and adjacent to the Eivers Euphrates and Tigris, the rarity of the discoveries of lead which have been made there further emphasizes the limited use to which the metal was put in early times. In Babylonia there is no positively certain evidence, i.e., evidence derived from actual discoveries, that lead was in extensive use. On the other hand it is recorded by Herodotus, who visited Babylon about the middle of the fifth century B.C., that a bridge built across the Euphrates by the Queen Nikotris had its stones bound together with iron and lead. The metal, too, is said by Diodorus to have been largely employed in the construction of the famous hanging gardens of the capital city. Loftus obtained a jar of the metal and a fragment of a pipe at Mugheir (Chaldaea). It has also been taken from some of the oldest graves at Warka. No specimen, however, is to be found in the extensive collection of Chaldaean objects in the British Museum. In Assyria the excavations which have been made from time to time on the site of the ancient capital and other cities have brought to light but few objects of lead. Layard mentions a mass of lead melted by the fire, which had destroyed the [39] WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. 273 temple in the ruins of which it was found. Yet the Chaldaeans and Assyrians were very favourably situated for obtaining the metal. In the mountain region to the north-east of Nineveh and not very far distant, in the neighbourhood of Lizan, and in the valley of the Birwari there is an important mineral district, throughout which are distributed valuable deposits of lead ore. The still richer districts of South Armenia, near the modern Diarbekhr on the upper waters of the Tigris, were also by no means inaccessible to them. As regards Egypt, no deposits of the ores of lead are known to occur within its borders, or in the regions on its frontiers, and it is probably for this reason that the metal was but very rarely used, even in comparatively late times. In fact, even as late as the Ptolemaic period it was employed by the Egyptians to a much lesser extent than by the Mycenaean people, and its applications were confined to very trivial uses. As a constituent of bronze it seems to have been much in favour, thus in twenty-two analyses of Egyptian bronzes, chiefly statuettes, published by von Bibra, fifteen show from 7 to 22 per cent, of lead. The earliest example of the use of lead as metal is a hawk of wood coated with lead, which was found by Petrie in a grave at Nagada, along with three similar archaic figurines of limestone. If this is contemporaneous with the early objects found on that site, to which the date 3300 to 3000 B.C. has been ascribed by Petrie, it rivals the Hissarlik specimens in its remote antiquity. The Phoenicians claim our attention as the discoverers and first exploiters of the; lead and silver-bearing deposits in Sardinia and Spain, and possibly those of the Taurus and some others on the western and northern coasts of Asia Minor, and in the valley of the Nestus, in Macedonia. According to the statements of classical authors they were especially noted for the abundance of silver, which they possessed, but, as I have already pointed out (page 263), silver can only be obtained by smelting ores containing lead, they must, therefore, have been well acquainted with that metal. None of the sites of these ancient cities or settlements have, however, yielded any evidence of the use of lead, excepting for minor purposes. We have already noted how lead was applied to various industrial purposes in Mycenaean times. If we now pass in review its applications during the later period of Greek culture, from the beginning of the Hellenic supremacy in the Aegean up to its fall at the hands of the Piomans, we shall see that they were still but little extended and for the most part of but minor importance. In architecture, lead was employed in the form of dowels for fastening firmly together the larger stones of important edifices, also for affixing to them the bronzes with which they were occasionally adorned. Examples of both are seen in the debris of the Mausoleum, at Halicarnassus. For civil and religious purposes we find inscribed tablets, plaques, and figurines for votive offerings. 274 WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. [40] For the needs of common industries there were weights, plummets, and the like, and for the purposes of warfare, sling bullets of lead. All these are, however, applications of minor importance, consuming but insignificant quantities of the metal. The sources whence the metal was obtained were the mines of Laurion, the islands of the Aegean, and the west and north of Asia Minor. During the early part of their history, the Eomans were not in advance of other nations in the utilization of the metal lead, but with the growth of the empire it gradually came into more extensive use, until at last it was applied to almost every purpose for which it is employed at the present day. At the close of the Punic War, as we have seen already, the valuable mines which had been exploited by the Phoenicians in Sardinia and Spain came into their possession, and somewhat later the famous mines of Laurion in Attica. Most of these mines were, however, worked rather for the silver which the lead contained than for the lead itself, although even under those circumstances the production of the latter metal must have been considerable. But with the occupation of Britain vast supplies were at once available from the rich ores which abounded there even at the surface of the ground in several localities, so that from about the first century of our era began that lavish use of lead for which the Komans became specially noted. The Sardinian lead mines must have been very vigorously carried on by them, as the accumulations of slag mixed with Eoman remains in the province of Iglesias are of such enormous extent that for many years they have furnished material for the extraction of lead and silver to the smelting works at Domusnovas, Cagliari, and several other places in the province. The lead mines in Spain, until the discovery of those in Britain, were the most valuable in the ancient world, in Eoman, as in Phoenician times, not even excepting the famous mines of Laurion. The most important of the Eoman mines were in the southern part of the Spanish peninsula, but others of considerable extent were also worked near Barcelona, and the hill district of Asturias. The chief seat of the lead and silver mining industry was Carthagena. Here and in the vicinity, and at Linares arid Almeria, and even further westward, there are numerous vast heaps of ancient slags, chiefly Eoman. Other interesting relics of Eoman lead smelting in the country are figurines of lead, fifty of which were found near Orihuelva (Valencia). One of these is in the Museum of Practical Geology. Several other localities, in addition to those enumerated, are noted by ancient writers, but it has not yet been possible to determine their sites from existing remains. As regards the two famous mines mentioned by Pliny, 1 the Santarensian and 1 Pliny, Naturalis Histori, xxxiv, 17, 49. [41] WILLIAM GOWLAND. The, Metals in Antiquity. 275 the Antonian mine in Baetica, there can be little doubt that they were situated in the mining region between Carthagena and Almeria or near Linares, as there are no accumulations of mining and smelting debris in any other districts, which, in any way, correspond with the extent of their operations as recorded by Pliny. The lead mining operations of the Romans in Gaul, judging from the metallurgical remains which have come down to us, and the evidence afforded by ancient excavations were conducted on an insignificant scale. The ores were not only much less abundant, but their mode of occurrence was also less favourable than in the Spanish peninsula. Pigs of lead, bearing the names of the Emperors Nero, Hadrian, and Septimus Severus, have been unearthed respectively at Vieil, Evreux (Dept. Eure) Lillebonne (Dept. Seine Inferieure), and Chalons-sur-Saone (Dept. Saone-et-Loire). These localities are far distant from any lead mining district, and as the pigs closely resemble those found in England, Abbe Cochet hence attributes them to Shropshire. The importance of Britain to the Romans as a lead-producing country is indisputably proved by the extensive mining excavations, and the vast quantities of mining debris and metallurgical residua which they have left in the chief ore-bearing districts, also by the number of pigs of lead, bearing imperial and other Roman names, which have been found either at the mines or on the roads leading from them. The most important centres of Roman mining were : the Mendip Hills (Somersetshire) ; the district of the Stiperstones and its subsidiary hills (Shropshire) ; the hill region of North Derbyshire ; and the neighbourhood of Holywell (Flintshire). More than fifty Roman pigs of lead have been found in Britain, either in the neighbourhood of the ancient mines where they were produced or near the roads leading from them to Roman stations. This large number, all of which may be regarded as having been accidentally lost, taken together with the vast extent of the Roman mining excavations and accumulations of slag and other debris, indicates in a very forcible manner that the production of lead in Britain during the Roman occupation must have been exceedingly great. These pigs were found near, or can be traced to, the following mining centres : Somersetshire. Eight pigs, the earliest bearing the name Britannicus (A.D. 44 to 48-9). Shropshire. Four pigs, all bearing the name of the Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117 to 128). Flintshire. Twenty-eight pigs, the earliest bearing the name of the Emperor Nero (A.D. 60 to 68). Derbyshire. Ten pigs, the earliest having the name of the Emperor Tiberius Claudius (A.D. 44). The most extensive applications of lead that had yet been made in the history of the metal were those that arose out of the elaborate systems for the supply and 276 WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. [42] distribution of water in cities and the construction and equipment of baths, which formed such an important feature in the social life of the Eomans. The chief forms in which it was used for these purposes were sheets and pipes. The former, of which numerous specimens have come down to us, were of very varying dimensions, ranging from the small strips unearthed at Silchester, barely thicker than paper, to the large and ponderous plates which were used in the construction of the baths at Bath, which are nearly f inch in thickness. The water pipes varied from 2 or 3 inches to 18 inches in diameter. They often bear inscriptions, which are always in relief, and were formed on the sheet of which the pipe was made by casting it in a stamped mould, as was the case with the pigs. The inscriptions consist generally of the name of the Emperor, the officer having charge of the regulation of the water supply, the plumber, and often the owner of the house. They sometimes indicate, too, that the water was an imperial concession. Amongst the plumbers it is interesting to note a number of female members of the craft. As a material in construction, we find it sometimes run into the joints of masonry as a binding substance, also as dowels, and for fixing metal clamps and plaques to blocks of stone. Bronze statues which were imperfect castings were repaired with lead. Others had their stability increased by filling their bases with the metal. A noteworthy use was the construction of coffins. A considerable number of these have been dug up from time to time, both in our own country and in France ; a few only survive, the others having been consigned to the melting pot. Lead was also largely used as a constituent of pewter and solder and for most purposes for which it is employed at the present day. For these needs vast quantities were required, and hence it was that the mines of Spain and Gaul, but more especially those of Britain, were worked with such assiduity and perseverance. Iron. The belief held by some archaeologists that the first iron known to man was either of meteoric origin or telluric native iron is not supported by any substantial evidence. It is true masses of telluric iron occur at Ovifak in Greenland and have afforded the Eskimo, as we have already seen, material for tools and weapons. Also the doubtful meteoric iron of the Toluka Valley in Mexico is worked there into axes and other implements. But in the few other localities where telluric iron has been found in basalt and other rocks the metal occurs in grains or in nodules too small for practical use, arid in three cases contains from 65 to 75 per cent, of nickel. The rare occurrence of iron, either meteoric or telluric, further the impossibility of detaching pieces suitable for working from almost all meteorites by means of stone or bronze tools, is opposed to the belief that such iron was the material used by the men of the Early Iron Age. [43] WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. 277 Further, the assumption which is sometimes made that one or other of these forms of iron must have been the earliest source of the metal is not only without any solid foundation, but is totally unnecessary, for, as will be shown below, iron ores are so easily reducible that they can be converted into metallic iron in an ordinary wood or charcoal fire. From the foregoing remarks I think it will be evident that native iron, whether of meteoric or telluric origin, can have played no part in the rise and development of the Iron Age. The view held by some that meteoric iron is not malleable and hence could not have been utilized is, however, untenable, as, according to the researches of Dr. Beck, out of 70 iron meteorites (siderites) 48 were malleable whilst only 7 were absolutely unmalleable. 1 The discovery of the metal iron, in my opinion, arose either from pieces of rich iron ore becoming accidentally embedded in the domestic fire, the burning embers of which would easily reduce them to the metallic state, or it may be from primitive man having already obtained the metal copper from certain stones experimenting with others in the same manner in his rude furnaces, when, if these consisted of iron ore, lumps of malleable iron would certainly be produced. So easily, in fact, is the metal iron reduced from its ores that it is extremely strange that it was not the first metal discovered by neolithic man. It has been and is still asserted by some archaeologists, owing to an imperfect acquaintance with metallurgy, that the extraction of iron from its ores requires a greater knowledge than the extraction of copper, also that a higher temperature is required for the former than the latter operation. Both statements are in direct contradiction to the facts established by. practical metallurgists 1st. That there is no simpler process than the production of malleable iron from its ores in a charcoal fire. 2nd. That the temperature required for the reduction of iron is only 700 to 800 C., whilst that required for copper is not less than about 1,100 C. Moreover, as we shall see later, neither bellows nor an artificial blast of any kind is necessary. No fusion is required in the case of iron as in that of copper ; the metal is obtained as an unfused malleable lump, which only needs hammering to fashion it into implements or weapons. The distinguished metallurgist the late Dr. Percy has so ably stated the metallurgical view of this question in his book " Iron and Steel " 2 that I will quote the passage in extenso. " From suitable ore, of which abundant and readily accessible supplies exist in various localities, nothing more easy can be conceived than the extraction of malleable iron. 1 Beck, Geschichte des Eisens, p. 26. - Dr. Percy, Metallurgy, Iron and Steel (London, 1864), p. 873. 278 WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. [44] " Of all metallurgical processes it may be regarded as the most simple. " Thus, if a lump of red or brown hsematite be heated for a few hours in a charcoal fire, well surrounded by, or embedded in, the fuel, it will be more or less completely reduced, so as to admit of being easily forged at a red heat into a bar of iron. " The primitive method of extracting good malleable iron directly from the ore, which is still practised in India and in Africa, requires a degree of skill very far inferior to that \vhich is implied in the manufacture of bronze." The erroneous belief which is still too prevalent among archaeologists even at the present day, that fusion is necessary for the extraction of iron is evidently founded on the modern method of iron smelting, by which cast iron is first produced and subsequently converted by special processes into malleable iron or steel. This, in spite of the fact that this method only dates from the fifteenth century, when high furnaces and high pressure of blast were introduced by which alone cast iron can be produced. It should be a matter of common knowledge that, before that date all iron was obtained as malleable iron direct from the ore and was never molten but accumu- lated as a metallic mass at the bottom of the furnace and had to be removed mechanically. No other procedure was possible with the low furnaces or hearths, which were the only appliances then available. The metallic mass was practically infusible and consisted of grains of wrought or malleable iron of a steely nature and could be readily forged into any required shape. The evidence afforded by the remains which have been found on the old iron sites proves, I think, incontestably that the actual process for the extraction of iron from its ores in Europe, in fact, in all countries, in early times was everywhere practically the same ; it was only in the furnaces and appliances that differences occurred. Moreover, the process was one of the simplest in the whole range of metallurgy, whether the furnace cavity was a simple hole in the ground or prolonged above it. The fuel was charcoal, and this was placed in the furnace, and sometimes also piled above it, in alternate layers with the iron ore. The fire was urged either by the wind alone or by a blowing appliance of some kind to the temperature necessary for the reduction of the ore to metallic iron. I have again to repeat and emphatically, as so much misconception exists on this point, that the metal was never melted but was always obtained in the form of a solid, sometimes spongy mass of infusible malleable iron, occasionally of a steely character. No elaborate appliances or tools were needed for the operations. Even at the present day in Ceylon the bloom or mass of iron is taken out of the furnace with long tongs made of green wood sticks tied together at one end and is then beaten a little into shape with thick sticks. In Africa the stem of a creeper is employed for the same purpose, and the bloom is then hammered into shape with a stone, a larger stone serving as an anvil. The prehistoric process still is practised in Africa, and in a modified form in [45] WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. 279 India in the Deccan, Central and North-Western Provinces and in other localities, and in Borneo ; in Europe, in the province of Catalonia in the north of Spain and in Finland. In Plate XXVII, Fig. \ , T is represented the removal of the mass of iron from a furnace in Catalonia. In Japan, the furnace which still survives has no parallel in its simplicity, rudeness, and temporary character. Even the earliest furnaces of Europe, so far as we can infer from their vestiges which have been unearthed, were of a more advanced type than it. It consists simply of a V-shaped trough of common clay with holes near the bottom for the introduction of the blast. The furnace is charged with alternate layers of charcoal and ore during about fifty or sixty hours, after which the sides are so much fused and corroded that the operation is stopped, the walls are broken down and the masses of reduced iron containing steely portions removed by levers and bars and broken up when cold. The steely fragments are separated and from them the famous swords of old Japan were made. A new furnace is at once constructed on the old site and is ready for work in about 24 hours. From the foregoing, the simple character of the operation necessary for the production of iron in a malleable condition from its ores is clearly manifest. As regards cast iron the furnaces, until mediaeval times, were too low, and the blast insufficient for its production, it is not impossible, however, that it might sometimes have been obtained in small quantities when the temperature of the furnace was abnormally raised by a violent wind or an accidental increase in the blast and when at the same time an excess of charcoal was present. It could, on the other hand, never have been utilized, as on account of its brittleness it could not be hammered into any useful form and on account of its very high melting point it could not then be remelted and cast. If it was ever produced, it must have been returned to the furnace with the next charge, as no specimen of early date has yet been found. It is important to note here that the type of furnace which still survives in India among the hill tribes of the Ghats is closely analogous to the prehistoric furnaces of the upper basin of the Danube, Fig. 5, 2 and of the Jura district in Europe. It consists simply of a cylindrical shaft of clay about 10 to 15 inches in diameter and 2 feet 6 inches to 4 feet in height, with an aperture near the base for the admission of the blast and withdrawal of the iron and another for the exit of the slag. I append a brief description of the working of a charge as the furnaces of prehistoric times must have been worked in the same manner. " The furnace is first filled nearly half full of charcoal and upon this, fire is put, after which it is filled to the top with charcoal. The blast is then applied. When the charcoal sinks at the top of the furnace, alternate charges of ore and charcoal are supplied until the proper charge of ore has been introduced, after which the blast is 1 Eeproduced from Percy, Iron and Steel, p. 283, by permission of Mr. John Murray. 2 Jour. Iron and Steel Inst., 1897, vol. lii, p. 205. 280 WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. [46] increased and maintained till the close of the operation. The greater part of the slag remains in the furnace and is taken out along with the iron. In from four to GL FIG. 5. ANCIENT IRON SMELTING FURNACE, GYALAR, TRANSYLVANIA. six hours a charge is completed, when the front of the furnace being removed a small mass of malleable iron, slag and unburnt charcoal is drawn out." The iron is then hammered into a bar. In Upper Burma a furnace, Fig. 6, 1 of the same type as those still survived FIG. 6. IRON SMELTING FURNACE. BURMA. in : 1864, but in the mode of working it was even more primitive, as no artificial blast whatever was made use of. During working, the air necessary for the combustion of the fuel was admitted through a number of clay tubes clayed into the aperture through which the mass of iron was drawn out after the operation. No care appeared to be taken in selecting localities where a natural blast might be obtained by making the furnace to face the prevailing wind. 1 Reproduced from Percy, Iron and Steel, p. 272, by permission of Mr. John Murray. [47] WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. 281 Early iron smelting localities. In "Western Asia there are two important districts where iron ores are of very extensive occurrence and in which remains of early iron manufacture are found. One is the region on the south-east of the Euxine (ancient Paphlagonia and Pontus), extending from the modern Yeshil Irmak to Batum, and comprising a series of mountain ranges, not far from the coast, along the lower slopes and foot hills of which the iron deposits are scattered. The other is the Taurus and Anti Taurus region on the south-east of Asia Minor, extending on the West from Cape Anamur to the borders of Syria and in Syria to Aleppo, the Euphrates and Lebanon. Either of the above sites might have been the earliest for the production of iron in Western Asia, but from a metallurgical point of view, deduced from the extent and character of the ancient remains, there are strong reasons for believing that the first-mentioned region was the first in which the metal was regularly produced. Iron ore is also found in the Tiyari Mountains to the north-east of the site of Nineveh and in the neighbouring part of Kurdistan and is a source of iron at the present day. It may be that the ore of the Tiyari Mountains was also treated by the ancient Assyrians for the extraction of iron at a very early period, but either the ore was difficult to work or yielded insufficient or inferior metal, for as early as 881 B.C. the metal was brought to Assyria as tribute from the iron district of the Euxine, the country of the Chalybes, Tibereni, and Moschi of classical writers. It is also recorded that Ashur-nasir-pal (885 to 860 B.C.) obtained iron in the neighbourhood of Carchemish. In support of these records which testify to the extensive use of iron by the Assyrians we have the remarkable find of Victor Place at Khorsabad. There in the ruins of the palace of Sargon, built about 710 B.C., he found a storehouse containing, according to his estimation, not less that 160,000 kilograms of iron. The greater part consisted of iron bars from 12 to 19 inches in length, and 2f to 5| inches in thickness. They were roughly drawn out at each end and pierced with a hole, as shown in Fig. 7, 1 and weighed from about 9 to 44 Ibs. Place supposed them to be work tools of some kind, but they are really bars of iron forged at the furnace of the mines into this shape for convenience of transport by men, horses, or camels. It is worthy of note here that similar forms survived for iron for transport and trading in Eoman times and even up to thirty or forty years ago in Finland and Sweden. The collection was chiefly a store of un worked iron held in readiness by the king for the instruments of war and for building construction. It contained also, however, many kinds of finished iron articles, such as chains, horse bits, etc., all arranged in regular order. This vast accumulation of iron indicates incontestably that the metal had been in use for many centuries previous to the time of Sargon, so that it will not 1 Reproduced from Beck, Geschichte des Eisens, p. 135, by permission of F. Vieweg and Sohn. 282 WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. [48] be unreasonable to assume that the Assyrians were acquainted with iron certainly earlier than 1500 or even 2000 B.C. Layard also, as is well known, found in his excavations on the site of Nineveh many weapons, swords, daggers, lance-heads, arrow-heads, and tools of iron. Other districts in North Asia where the metallurgy of iron was practised in remote times are as follows : In Northern Persia, in the neighbourhood of Parpa, between Kerman and Shiras and not far from Persepolis, there are ex- tensive remains of early iron workings which were doubtless the source of the vast numbers of iron implements and objects found on the plain in the vicinity of that ancient city. Also in Northern Persia in the Karadagh district mounds of pre- historic iron slag of enor- mous extent have been found. From these districts, addition to those in mentioned, Nineveh also obtained some iron. In India iron ores are somewhat widely dis- tributed, and have been worked in very early times, chiefly in the North- Western Provinces, Central India, the Western Ghats, Mysore, Madras, Haiderabad, Kutch, and elsewhere. It is extremely pro- FIG> 7. IRON FOUND AT KHORSABAD. bable that iron was extracted from them at least as early as the tenth century B.C. in Southern India, and at a much earlier date in the Punjaub, as the metal is said to be mentioned in the Eig-Veda as in use for weapons. In other parts of the world, as Egypt, Western Asia, and Europe, generally a Copper or Bronze Age had preceded the Iron Age, but the existence of such an [49] WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metal* in Anlitj *///./. 283 era in Southern India has yet to be proven. Bronze, brass, and copper implements and ornaments have indeed been found in a few instances, but apparently none as yet under circumstances showing distinctly that they preceded the Iron Age. According to Pliny the best steel was that of Serica, but what country is indicated by that name has riot yet been definitely determined. It is extremely improbable that it was China, and we must rather regard the mountain district of Ferghana (Khokand) as the source of Serican steel (Beck). 1 In Chinese annals it is recorded that a prince of Khotan had presented one of the kings with a writing case of " blue iron," doubtless meaning steel. Iron ores are of common occurrence in China, chiefly in the Western Provinces, but there is no concrete evidence to show how early they were worked for the metal. As to the time of the first use of iron the evidence, too, afforded by the ancient literature is of a very doubtful character. In the Shu-King to which the date 2000 B.C. has been attributed, iron is indeed mentioned, but with this exception- there is no allusion to iron in writings older than about 1000 B.C. (Edkins). The magnetic compass, however, is said to have been invented by the Chinese at a very remote date, earlier than 1000 B.C., and if so they must then have been acquainted with steel. The Japanese when they migrated from the mainland were passing out of the Bronze Age stage of culture and entering the Iron Age, as but few weapons of bronze, only halberds and one or two swords, have been found, and these only in those parts of the islands which were first occupied by them. They had already become skilful workers in iron before they became dolmen builders, three or four centuries B.C. No weapons except iron swords, spear-heads, and arrow-heads have been found in the chambers of the dolmens, and all, more particularly the swords, are splendid examples of the work of the smith. The much disputed question as to the time when iron was first used by man requires our consideration as far as the available evidence will permit. In this connection it is almost unnecessary to point out that the evidence is not only very imperfect, but is also unfortunately in too many cases, especially that based on philology, liable to misinterpretation, hence the question does not admit at present of a decisive answer. However, based on such evidence as is available, the dates given in the following table have been advanced with more or less authority fop the discoveries and events to which they are respectively prefixed. TABLE. Pre-dynastic times in Egypt. Iron beads. IVth dynasty 3733 B.C. A piece of iron in an inner joint of the Great Pyramid at Gizeh. Vth 3566 Several pieces of a pickaxe from Abusir. Xllth 2466 A spear-head, Nubia. 1 Beck, op. cit., p. 255. 284 WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Metals in Antiquity. [50] About 2357 B.C. Iron in use in China according to recent researches in early Chinese history (Brough). XVIIIth dynasty 1600 to 1400 B.C. A sickle, Karnak. About 2000 B.C. Pieces of iron in the Second City, Hissarlik. 1500 Iron knife found by Schliemann at Hissarlik. 1400 to 1300 B.C. Achseans enter Greece and, according to Kidgeway, had iron swords. 1200 B.C. The Bronze Age shades off' into the Iron Age in Crete. 1100 Iron implements at Villanova, North Italy. 1100 Iron in use in Etruria (Montelius). 1000 ,, Iron Age in Greece in the Homeric period. 885 to 860 B.C. Ashur-nasir-pal brought iron from Carchemish. 881 B.C. Assyria, tribute lists of Moschi. 800 At the destruction of Damascus 5,000 talents of iron were taken. 800 Iron swords in Central Europe (Montelius). 800 ,, Iron Age in Britain (Montelius). 700 Vast numbers of iron implements and trading bars in Sargon's palace. 700 Iron weapons (Hallstatt). On a perusal of the above table the conflicting and irreconcilable character of many of the dates will be seen to be a striking feature. From a metallurgical point of view several of the attributions of date appear to be not only inexplicable but highly improbable. Accepting the dates given for the Egyptian specimens as approximately correct, whence came the few early pieces of iron mentioned above. The specimen from the Greek Pyramid was examined by Flight and pronounced to be non-meteoric, further, it contains combined carbon, and for that and other reasons, already previously mentioned, can hardly be telluric. I hence think it is not altogether impossible that it came from the Sinaitic peninsula, and was obtained there by the accidental treatment by the copper smelters of the rich iron ore which crops out near the veins of copper ore. If this was so the question arises, did the production of iron continue to be carried on there from that time. In somewhat later times, if we may reason from the heaps of ancient iron slags, Egypt undoubtedly obtained some of its iron from that region. The rarity of the occurrence of iron implements and weapons in Egypt, up to comparatively late times is inexplicable in view of the intercourse between that country and Assyria, where the metal was certainly in use as early as about 1500 B.C. It is, however, well to remember in this connection that neither have [51] WILLIAM GOWLAND. The Mdah in Antiquity. 285 implements of bronze been found in the numbers that might be expected when we consider the extensive works in Egypt, which could hardly have been accomplished without a metal. As regards the working of stone, in which the Egyptians were especially expert, but few tools suitable for the purpose have been found. These facts would almost lead us to believe either that stone tools were employed or that iron tools may some time be discovered. In Africa, so far as metallurgical evidence may be relied on, the extraction ot iron from its ores was carried on at a very remote date. The seats of an ancient iron industry, marked by accumulations of slags and debris, are so widely distributed in that continent that it must date from a very early period, and, according to Beck, must have been indigenous. That this early African iron smelting was known in Egypt is well shown by Figs. 8 and 9, 1 which are reproduced from bas- reliefs on a stone now in the Egyptian Collection in Florence. In Fig. 8 a youth, whose head and outstanding ears characterize him as an Ethiopian, is working a drum-like skin bellows from which the blast of air is conveyed to a shallow hole, in which the ore is reduced to metallic iron. In Fig. 9 we see the lump of iron, which was obtained, being forged on a stone anvil with a wooden base, with a hammer consisting of a stone or piece of iron held in both hands by the smith or " striker." The date of the bas-reliefs is not known but bellows of precisely the same form are depicted on a wall painting in a tomb bearing the name of Thotmes III. (1503 to!449 B.C.). 3 In Fig. 10 3 is reproduced a pen-and-ink sketch made by Capt. Grant, who accompanied Speke to Lake Nyanza, of the operation of making malleable iron direct from the ore in that region. The ancient process and form of bellows had thus survived there. In the earliest times bellows were not used, neither were they necessary, as furnaces still exist and are at work at the present day at Ola-igbi, about 160 miles from Lagos, in which no artificial blast is employed, the wind alone supplying the air required. From these facts it would follow that it is extremely probable that the sickle of the Xllth dynasty (2466 B.C.) found in Nubia had its origin in one or other of the African smelting sites. In Assyria, as I have already pointed out, the Iron Age dates from a far distant period. The records of tribute from the Moschi and the extremely large quantity of the metal found at Khorsabad indicate in my opinion an antiquity for its use which cannot be placed later than 1500 B.C. On the south-east of the Euxine, the vast extent of the prehistoric slag heaps 1 Reproduced from Beck, Geschichte des Eisms, Iste Abth. p. 97, by permission of F. Vieweg and Sohn. - Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, ii, 312. a Quart. Journ. of Sc., 1870, vol. vii, Plate, Fig. 1, p. 198. d 2 286 WTLLTAM GOWLANP. The, Metals in Antiquity. [52] which are scattered throughout the iron region of the ancient Pontus tend to show that at an even earlier date iron was then extracted from its ores. As regards India, if the statements of the Big Veda may be accepted, iron was in use in the Punjaub as early as 1500 B.C. Further, lance-heads and objects of iron have been found in the graves and burial mounds of the Deccan before the influx of the Hindus ; and in the old Indian graves near the Indus, to which the date 1500 B.C. has been ascribed, objects of the metal have also been found (Beck). In Europe we are confronted with serious difficulties in the determination of the beginning of the Iron Age. Metallurgy would point to two centres, the FIG. 8. EGYPTIAN BAS-RELIEF REPRESENTING IRON SMELTING. FIG. 9. EGYPTIAN BAS-RELIEF REPRE- SENTING THE FORGING OF IRON. FIG. 10. MODERN IRON SMELTING NEAR LAKE NYANZA, AFRICA. Eisenerz district of the Austrian Tyrol and the Elban region (Etruria) of Italy, in both of which there was an advanced Bronze Age culture earlier than 1000 B.C. From a purely metallurgical point of view iron was first produced in the former region, the country around the upper waters of the Danubian tributaries the Drave, the Save, the Mur, and the Enns (the ancient Noricum). We have there on many sites vast deposits of easily reducible iron ore, at Eisenerz so exten- sive that the entire mountain is one mass of pure iron carbonate and oxide. So abundant must lumps of the ore have been on the hillsides and in the beds of the streams, that they cannot have failed to have been used as the enclosing stones of the domestic hearths and as I have already pointed out if by chance any became Journal of the Royal Anthropological [nxHtufe, Vol. XL J II, 19^2.; Plfff P O 1 ! Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, I'ol. PRKHISTOR1C CRUCIBLES. THE METALS IN ANTIQUITY. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, I'ol. A f