6th Experimental Archaeology Conference Poster Abstract – José Miguel Gallego Cañamero
From the 6th Experimental Archaeology Conference, York, 2012.
ARTIFEX, conservació i recreació del patrimoni arqueològic
ARTIFEX, conservation and recreation of the archaeological heritage
For a long time in Spanish archaeology there has been little experimnetation on weaponry of the Iberian pre-Roman people. The wider project will be reproducing the complete weaponry making process during Iberian times. This poster presents one part of the study: how the iron is acquired by a direct reduction process from the limited archaeological evidence. Some of the clearest recorded evidence is located in the Iberian settlement of Les Guàrdies (El Vendrell, Tarragona, Spain), dated from the last IIIrd Cent. B. C.. From this we have been able to propose a hypothetical reconstruction of an iron making furnace for experimentation. Despite having failed in our initial objective of making iron, we can talk about some of the hypotheses, although not definitive, that help us to understand this major part of the iron production process in Iberian times.