Xuxiebian is an iron-smelting site located in Pujiang county of Sichuan province, China. Two excavations were carried out in 2007 and 2011, and four bowl-shaped furnaces were excavated. Ten slag samples from the site were prepared and analysed. The present paper reports the results of metallographic and elemental examination of the specimens. It is concluded that both pig-iron-smelting and refining process were applied at the Xuxiebian site, and the bowlshaped furnaces are possibly refining furnaces. The function of the site was probably to produce pig iron and refine the pig iron into wrought iron.