Prof. Dr. José Remesal Rodríguez (UB)
Porf. Dr. J.M. Prado Pozuelo (UPC)
Main investigators: Julia Simón Arias (U.P.C.), Pérez Suñé J.Mª (U.B.), Juana Gómez Sánchez (U.B.)
Financing organ: Universitat de Barcelona

One of the research programs in the Ancient History Area, of the University of Barcelona, Prehistory, Ancient History and Archaeology Department, has as an objective the determination of the organization of the production and commerce of iron objects one of the very commons items in the daily life, both domestic and economic, of ancient Roman rural and urban life.

The non sumptuous nature of the iron objects doubtless was the cause of Latin naturalists, agronomist and geographers making few and very general references, in their writings, relative to the different aspects of the production and distribution chain of iron objects, a chain that started with ore extraction and finished with the iron object ready for the user. In view of the lack of documentation, only archaeological techniques and metallurgical studies -complemented by a comparative analysis of other handicraft activities, for which papyrus and literary references are very explicit- allow us to answer the numerous historical, social, economical and technological questions that are elicited.

With this premise, the Ancient History Area and the Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering Department, of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, on 1993 signed a collaboration agreement valid until 1996 to carry out study of the historical, social and technological aspects of the iron and steel industry in the Roman Catalonia (north-east Spain).

Objectives

The objectives of the study were:

To determine the technological level and the work methods of the Roman ironworkers.

To establish the degree of diffusion of iron and iron alloy technology.

To work out models of the organization of the production and distribution, which will allow us to infer socio-economic circumstances of that activity.

Methodology

The methodology of the study was:

The identification, registration and documentation of all archaeological evidence of metallurgical activity (ore, slags, furnaces, work structures, ...) and of the all iron items (semielaborate products and finished pieces) from archaeological prospecting and excavations.

The chemical analysis and the study of the metallurgical structures of the finds (ore, slags, iron objects) to determine their composition, structure, quality and handling methods.

The analysis of the information obtained in the previous two steps and a comparison with existing models of the organization of handicraft production and commercial distribution in Antiquity.

Results of the three-year period 1993-1995

During the three-year period 1993-1995 we obtained the following historic-archaeological and archaeometallurgical results:

Historic-archaeological results. The location and identification of the work structures of a rural forge in the high-imperial Roman villa of Vilarenc (Calafell, Tarragona). This is one of the few examples known in the Iberian Peninsula, and it has allowed us, in situ, to:

To estimate the kind, dimensions and layout of the forging structures of the rural ironworker.

To prove the technical evolution with respect to preceding historical period.

To determine that it is possible to carry out the complete operative chain (reduction-manufacture-reparation) in a rural handicraft setting.

To estimate the productive potentiality of the rural forge and its subsidiary and complementary nature with respect to the main economic activity of the fundus: the agriculture.

Archaeometallurgical results. The metallurgical study of nails coming from rural locations separated both in place and time, reveals the existence of a common technological culture, characterized by the knowledge and the practice of different techniques of forging for the shaping of the iron pieces and the structural attributes. The manufacturing technique of a functional object like these nails, indicates rapid production, large output and low quality. The manufacture of iron objects requires a repeated series of forge techniques. The modus operandi of the Roman rural ironworker, more amply documented by our metallurgical studies, in the manufacture of nails and others iron instruments is the following:

Lamination by forging of the metal bar, on a bed of powdered charcoal, to a thickness of 0.5 to 1 cm.

Covering of this plate with powdered carbon.

Bending of the plate after heating, using hammer and tongs.

Heat treatment to cherry-red, causing the internal diffusion of the frapped charcoal carbon. Forging the object into its final form.

Immersion in water.

Polishing and pointing the object.

Bibliography

Gómez Sánchez J., Pérez Suñé J.Mª. (1993). "Les primeres estructures d'un taller de forja d'època romana a Catalunya". L'informatiu, núm. 8, diciembre 1993. Patronat-Fundació Castell de Calafell.

Gómez Sánchez J., Pérez Suñé J.Mª, Revilla Calvo V. (1994). "La siderurgia al Maresme en época romana". Laietània, 9. Mataró. pp.233-250.

Gómez Sánchez J., Pérez Suñé J.Mª, Simón Arias J. (1995). "Un taller de forja en la villa romana del Vilarenc, Calafell (Baix Penedès, Tarragona)". La farga catalana en el marc de l'arqueologia siderúrgica. Primer Simposi Internacional sobre la Farga Catalana (Ripoll, 1993). Ministeri d'Afers Socials i Cultura. Andorra; pp. 115-124.

Pérez Suñé J.Mª, Revilla Calvo V., Gómez Sánchez J., Pou Vallès J., Simón Arias J. (1995). "The production of Roman rural ironworkers in the northeast of Hispania Tarraconensis". The Importance of Ironmaking, Technical innovation and Social Change (Norberg, Suecia 1995). Estocolmo. pp.107-114. 

Pérez Suñé J.Mª, Revilla Calvo V., Gómez Sánchez J., Pou Vallès J. (1996). "Trabajo especializado y semiespecializado en el fundus: la siderurgia como actividad complementaria de la agricultura". IIº Congreso Nacional de Historia Social (Córdoba, abril 1995). Centro de Estudios Históricos. Madrid, 1996; pp. 61-68.

Revilla Calvo V., Pérez Suñé J.Mª, Gómez Sánchez J., Pou Vallès J. (1996). "Estructuras y funcionamiento de una herrería rural romana del Siglo I d.C.". Revista de Arqueología nº 182 (junio); pp. 22-29.

Revilla Calvo, V., Pérez Suñé, J.M., Gómez Sánchez, J., Simón Arias, J. (1997). "Notes sobre la siderúrgia romana a Catalunya". Cota Zero 13, 1997; pp. 85-92.

Pérez Suñé J.M., Revilla Calvo V., Gómez Sánchez J., Simón Arias J., Marsal Astort M., Plana Llevat F. (1998). "Función de la siderurgia en la Cataluña romana". Recherches sur l'économie du fer en Méditerranée nord-occidentale (dir. M. Feugère, V. Serneels). Monographies "Instrumentum" 1998. pp. 222-250.