La sidérurgie ancienne et l'exploitation minière dans les Montagnes Sainte-Croix (Petite Pologne). I. Bilan des recherches 1955-1990

Abstract

Fourty years of excavations by К. Bielenin in the Holy Cross Mountains in Poland have revealed one of the most important zones of iron production of the period which have been studied so far in barbarian Europe. In this area of about 800 square km there are 6000 sites with an average of 100 furnaces each. Some 10,000 tonnes of iron were produced during the first four centuries AD. This first part of a series of three articles is a synthesis of the results up until 1990 both in the technological field (the supply of ore and fuel, the typology and method of operation of the batteries of furnaces) and in the study of the socio- economic aspects of the iron production. It examines clearly the fundamental question of the outlets for this iron which were probably mainly oriented towards the Roman Empire.