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Abstract:

The aim of this study was to identify and characterise sedimentological evidence of the functioning of historical metallurgy at the chosen areas of river valleys near the former ironworks in Brusiek (Mała Panew River Valley) and Białogon (Bobrza River Valley). An interdisciplinary approach was employed, using a wide range of methods. In the first stage historical sources were analysed in order to obtain information about the selected former ironworks. In the next step field research was carried out. In the next stage of the research exposures of the sediments, core drillings, petrographic analysis, SEM analysis, radiocarbon datings and antrhacological analysis were made. The type and thickness of metallurgical waste from the former ironworks in Brusiek were determined on the basis of the analysis of sediments from an exposure in the high terrace of the river and material from boreholes in the metallurgical channel. These were: mainly green enamel after iron smelting, slag blocks, bricks, fragments of carbonate rocks, charcoal and charcoal ash layers. The dating of organic matter accompanying anthropogenic layers indicates its contemporary character, i.e. their origin dating from the end of metallurgical production. Analysis of the sample of metallurgical slag enabled it to be determined that the iron that was smelted in the ironworks in Busiek most probably derived from bog iron ore. Through the petrographic analysis of sediments from the exposure in a high terrace in Brusiek, sediments from the metallurgical channel in Brusiek, and sediments from the location of the metallurgical pond in Białogon, the presence and content of anthropogenic matter in sediments which was not visible to the naked eye was determined. Additionally, based on analysis of the variability of the sediment layers as well as their fractions and structure, it was possible to reconstruct the changes in sediment deposition at the Białogon site. Layers with a high content of anthropogenic material in sediments may indicate more intense human activity during the deposition of these sediments.