Late-medieval plagioclase-titanaugite-bearing Iron Slags of the Yapraklı Area (Çankırı), Turkey

Authors: W. E. SHARP, STEVEN K. MITTWEDE

Abstract: A mineralogical, mineral-geochemical and ^1^4C geochronological study of slags, previously identified as copper slags, in the Yapraklı area (Çankırı Province) of central Anatolia, has demonstrated that these are late-medieval iron slags consisting mainly of fayalite, glass, plagioclase, titanaugite, ulvöspinel and metallic iron. Because of the high lime content, relative to other medieval and Roman slags, these slags are quite anomalous in their lack of both modal and normative wüstite. Further study of these sites could shed light on the mining history and smelting methods of central Anatolia during a relatively obscure period of major socio-ethnic transition.

Keywords: iron slag, plagioclase, titanaugite, ulvöspinel, fayalite, leucite, iron smelting, late-medieval

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