{"id":{"repo_id":"cambridge","oai_identifier":"oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/390388"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cambridge/oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/390388","repository":{"repo_id":"cambridge","name":"Cambridge University","base_url":"https://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The Use of Coal for Ferrous Metallurgy in Roman Britain","abstract":"The occurrence of coal on Romano-British archaeological sites has been recognized for many years, but the evidence for how coal was actually employed was mostly circumstantial. In this thesis, the use of coal for blacksmithing in Roman Britain is definitively proven based on the analysis of iron production debris from a second-century CE blacksmithing workshop in Aldborough (Isurium Brigantum), Yorkshire, with confirmation from other Romano-British sites in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Northumberland, including from Hadrian’s Wall. This study, primarily using SEM-EDS and optical microscopy, shows that fuel choice – whether coal or wood-derived charcoal – can be identified through the presence of fuel inclusions and through several microstructural and chemical features which reflect the contribution of fuel ash. This thesis challenges existing views of Romano-British coal use as a response to deforestation or, at least, a wood shortage. Instead, it is proposed that coal was adopted for a combination of environmental, economic, and technical reasons. Whilst fuel requirements for blacksmithing and for Roman society as a whole were indeed significant, deforestation in Roman Britain has most likely been overstated, given literary and archaeological evidence for woodland management and the challenges of using pollen data as a tool for landscape reconstruction across an entire region, especially because of the possible palynological invisibility of managed woodlands. Economic motives promoting the adoption of coal include its lower labour cost compared to charcoal, and its greater energy density (energy for a given volume), which could have facilitated transport and storage. Technical reasons include its superior working properties over charcoal for blacksmithing, as evidenced by its precocious adoption by smiths in the late medieval period and corroborated by contemporary craftspeople. The results of this thesis highlight the importance of fuel in the chaîne opératoire of metallurgy and the need for further research combining materials analysis with the study of human-environment interactions, especially in regions with intensive metallurgical and industrial production and/or in marginal environments. The other main objective of this thesis is to characterise metal production at Alborough. Analysis of the production debris confirms that the workshop at Aldborough was dedicated to secondary blacksmithing, with no evidence for iron smelting, primary blacksmithing (bloom refining), or non-ferrous metallurgy. Comparisons are made between the chemical composition and microstructure of different classes of production debris, which demonstrate the formation of smithing slag from the reaction of the worked iron, the hearth lining, and (coal) ash. Study of the smithing slag from Aldborough also highlights some challenges in the study and interpretation of ferrous metallurgical slag, including differences between national research traditions. Recommendations for future research include more experimental work, analysis of all categories of metallurgical production debris, not just smithing hearth bottoms (SHBs), and open data, including more photographs and/or illustrations of artefacts.","abstract_html":"The occurrence of coal on Romano-British archaeological sites has been recognized for many years, but the evidence for how coal was actually employed was mostly circumstantial. In this thesis, the use of coal for blacksmithing in Roman Britain is definitively proven based on the analysis of iron production debris from a second-century CE blacksmithing workshop in Aldborough (Isurium Brigantum), Yorkshire, with confirmation from other Romano-British sites in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Northumberland, including from Hadrian’s Wall. This study, primarily using SEM-EDS and optical microscopy, shows that fuel choice – whether coal or wood-derived charcoal – can be identified through the presence of fuel inclusions and through several microstructural and chemical features which reflect the contribution of fuel ash. This thesis challenges existing views of Romano-British coal use as a response to deforestation or, at least, a wood shortage. Instead, it is proposed that coal was adopted for a combination of environmental, economic, and technical reasons. Whilst fuel requirements for blacksmithing and for Roman society as a whole were indeed significant, deforestation in Roman Britain has most likely been overstated, given literary and archaeological evidence for woodland management and the challenges of using pollen data as a tool for landscape reconstruction across an entire region, especially because of the possible palynological invisibility of managed woodlands. Economic motives promoting the adoption of coal include its lower labour cost compared to charcoal, and its greater energy density (energy for a given volume), which could have facilitated transport and storage. Technical reasons include its superior working properties over charcoal for blacksmithing, as evidenced by its precocious adoption by smiths in the late medieval period and corroborated by contemporary craftspeople. The results of this thesis highlight the importance of fuel in the chaîne opératoire of metallurgy and the need for further research combining materials analysis with the study of human-environment interactions, especially in regions with intensive metallurgical and industrial production and/or in marginal environments. The other main objective of this thesis is to characterise metal production at Alborough. Analysis of the production debris confirms that the workshop at Aldborough was dedicated to secondary blacksmithing, with no evidence for iron smelting, primary blacksmithing (bloom refining), or non-ferrous metallurgy. Comparisons are made between the chemical composition and microstructure of different classes of production debris, which demonstrate the formation of smithing slag from the reaction of the worked iron, the hearth lining, and (coal) ash. Study of the smithing slag from Aldborough also highlights some challenges in the study and interpretation of ferrous metallurgical slag, including differences between national research traditions. Recommendations for future research include more experimental work, analysis of all categories of metallurgical production debris, not just smithing hearth bottoms (SHBs), and open data, including more photographs and/or illustrations of artefacts.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["La Duc, Elizabeth"],"institution":"University of Cambridge","degree_name":null,"degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Martinon-Torres, Marcos"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-03-31","date_published":"2025-03-31","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:33:21Z","subjects":["archaeometallurgy","Roman Britain","ferrous metallurgy","slag","archaeological science","coal","energy transitions"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/6117db70-8456-4b2f-8842-b14d5938075d/download","https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.121964","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.doi"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Martinon-Torres, Marcos"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.sponsor","label":"Sponsor","values":["Research was made possible by a Cambridge Trust International Scholarship. Additional funding was provided by the Cambridge Philosophical Society, the Ironmongers’ Company, Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge, and the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["La Duc, Elizabeth"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2025-03-31"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cambridge"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby.uri","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby URI","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/390388"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["archaeometallurgy","Roman Britain","ferrous metallurgy","slag","archaeological science","coal","energy transitions"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/6117db70-8456-4b2f-8842-b14d5938075d/download","https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"]},{"key":"dc:rights.embargodate","label":"Dc Rights Embargodate","values":["2026-10-06"]},{"key":"dc:rights.embargotype","label":"Dc Rights Embargotype","values":["embargo"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.121964"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/35921004-71a5-4255-bd0d-7566d5363f2b/download"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The occurrence of coal on Romano-British archaeological sites has been recognized for many years, but the evidence for how coal was actually employed was mostly circumstantial. In this thesis, the use of coal for blacksmithing in Roman Britain is definitively proven based on the analysis of iron production debris from a second-century CE blacksmithing workshop in Aldborough (Isurium Brigantum), Yorkshire, with confirmation from other Romano-British sites in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Northumberland, including from Hadrian’s Wall. This study, primarily using SEM-EDS and optical microscopy, shows that fuel choice – whether coal or wood-derived charcoal – can be identified through the presence of fuel inclusions and through several microstructural and chemical features which reflect the contribution of fuel ash. This thesis challenges existing views of Romano-British coal use as a response to deforestation or, at least, a wood shortage. Instead, it is proposed that coal was adopted for a combination of environmental, economic, and technical reasons. Whilst fuel requirements for blacksmithing and for Roman society as a whole were indeed significant, deforestation in Roman Britain has most likely been overstated, given literary and archaeological evidence for woodland management and the challenges of using pollen data as a tool for landscape reconstruction across an entire region, especially because of the possible palynological invisibility of managed woodlands. Economic motives promoting the adoption of coal include its lower labour cost compared to charcoal, and its greater energy density (energy for a given volume), which could have facilitated transport and storage. Technical reasons include its superior working properties over charcoal for blacksmithing, as evidenced by its precocious adoption by smiths in the late medieval period and corroborated by contemporary craftspeople. The results of this thesis highlight the importance of fuel in the chaîne opératoire of metallurgy and the need for further research combining materials analysis with the study of human-environment interactions, especially in regions with intensive metallurgical and industrial production and/or in marginal environments. The other main objective of this thesis is to characterise metal production at Alborough. Analysis of the production debris confirms that the workshop at Aldborough was dedicated to secondary blacksmithing, with no evidence for iron smelting, primary blacksmithing (bloom refining), or non-ferrous metallurgy. Comparisons are made between the chemical composition and microstructure of different classes of production debris, which demonstrate the formation of smithing slag from the reaction of the worked iron, the hearth lining, and (coal) ash. Study of the smithing slag from Aldborough also highlights some challenges in the study and interpretation of ferrous metallurgical slag, including differences between national research traditions. Recommendations for future research include more experimental work, analysis of all categories of metallurgical production debris, not just smithing hearth bottoms (SHBs), and open data, including more photographs and/or illustrations of artefacts."]},{"key":"dc:format.checksum.md5","label":"Dc Format Checksum Md5","values":["b6f847c5b9d845bbc15b5c7022c86e46","87eda9de84448d1f82354d60eee3eb5f"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Use of Coal for Ferrous Metallurgy in Roman Britain"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Martinon-Torres, Marcos"],"dc:contributor.sponsor":["Research was made possible by a Cambridge Trust International Scholarship. Additional funding was provided by the Cambridge Philosophical Society, the Ironmongers’ Company, Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge, and the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge."],"dc:creator":["La Duc, Elizabeth"],"dc:date.issued":["2025-03-31"],"dc:description.abstract":["The occurrence of coal on Romano-British archaeological sites has been recognized for many years, but the evidence for how coal was actually employed was mostly circumstantial. In this thesis, the use of coal for blacksmithing in Roman Britain is definitively proven based on the analysis of iron production debris from a second-century CE blacksmithing workshop in Aldborough (Isurium Brigantum), Yorkshire, with confirmation from other Romano-British sites in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Northumberland, including from Hadrian’s Wall. This study, primarily using SEM-EDS and optical microscopy, shows that fuel choice – whether coal or wood-derived charcoal – can be identified through the presence of fuel inclusions and through several microstructural and chemical features which reflect the contribution of fuel ash. This thesis challenges existing views of Romano-British coal use as a response to deforestation or, at least, a wood shortage. Instead, it is proposed that coal was adopted for a combination of environmental, economic, and technical reasons. Whilst fuel requirements for blacksmithing and for Roman society as a whole were indeed significant, deforestation in Roman Britain has most likely been overstated, given literary and archaeological evidence for woodland management and the challenges of using pollen data as a tool for landscape reconstruction across an entire region, especially because of the possible palynological invisibility of managed woodlands. Economic motives promoting the adoption of coal include its lower labour cost compared to charcoal, and its greater energy density (energy for a given volume), which could have facilitated transport and storage. Technical reasons include its superior working properties over charcoal for blacksmithing, as evidenced by its precocious adoption by smiths in the late medieval period and corroborated by contemporary craftspeople. The results of this thesis highlight the importance of fuel in the chaîne opératoire of metallurgy and the need for further research combining materials analysis with the study of human-environment interactions, especially in regions with intensive metallurgical and industrial production and/or in marginal environments. The other main objective of this thesis is to characterise metal production at Alborough. Analysis of the production debris confirms that the workshop at Aldborough was dedicated to secondary blacksmithing, with no evidence for iron smelting, primary blacksmithing (bloom refining), or non-ferrous metallurgy. Comparisons are made between the chemical composition and microstructure of different classes of production debris, which demonstrate the formation of smithing slag from the reaction of the worked iron, the hearth lining, and (coal) ash. Study of the smithing slag from Aldborough also highlights some challenges in the study and interpretation of ferrous metallurgical slag, including differences between national research traditions. Recommendations for future research include more experimental work, analysis of all categories of metallurgical production debris, not just smithing hearth bottoms (SHBs), and open data, including more photographs and/or illustrations of artefacts."],"dc:format.checksum.md5":["b6f847c5b9d845bbc15b5c7022c86e46","87eda9de84448d1f82354d60eee3eb5f"],"dc:identifier.doi":["https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.121964"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/35921004-71a5-4255-bd0d-7566d5363f2b/download"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cambridge"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby.uri":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/390388"],"dc:rights":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/6117db70-8456-4b2f-8842-b14d5938075d/download","https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"],"dc:rights.embargodate":["2026-10-06"],"dc:rights.embargotype":["embargo"],"dc:subject":["archaeometallurgy","Roman Britain","ferrous metallurgy","slag","archaeological science","coal","energy transitions"],"dc:title":["The Use of Coal for Ferrous Metallurgy in Roman Britain"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Doctoral"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:33:21Z"}