Ancient Weapons Workshop Linked to Alexander the Great’s Successors Found on Greece’s Andros

Remnants of a diagnostic furnace recovered wrong the agora of past Andros. Credit: G. Stamatakis / CC BY 4.0

Archaeologists person uncovered a ample past weapons accumulation tract connected the Greek land of Andros, linked to the epoch of Alexander the Great’s successors, who dominated the land from astir 337 BC.

A survey published successful Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences reveals that iron-working slags recovered astatine Palaeopolis, the island’s past capital, day to the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, a play of aggravated Macedonian subject enactment crossed the Aegean.

The site’s concern past is disposable adjacent successful the section geography. The ridge eastbound of Palaeopolis carries the sanction “Skouria,” derived from the Greek connection for slag, due to the fact that of the tremendous stockpiles of ironworking discarded recovered there.

Lead researcher G. Stamatakis of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens examined 22 slag samples from the city’s agora, oregon marketplace.

Casting pits and mould fragments uncover an past ironworks

Excavations astatine the agora, covering astir 500 quadrate meters (5,382 quadrate feet) beneath 2 upper-terrace buildings, uncovered 3 casting pits and tiny furnaces resting connected layers of burned mudbrick.

Clay mould fragments, robust and bronze particles, ember residues, tiny pieces of lead, and a plaster exemplary of a miniature vase dated to the 3rd period BC, utilized successful mould construction, were besides recovered. More than 100 slag pieces, ranging from 5 to 20 centimeters (2 to 8 inches) successful size, are present stored astatine the Andros Archaeological Museum.

Pumiceous texture of the slag. Credit: G. Stamatakis / CC BY 4.0

Chemical and mineral investigation pointed to section robust ore deposits adjacent the colony of Agios Petros, astir 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) away, arsenic the superior earthy worldly source.

The slags incorporate elevated manganese, barium, and unusually precocious thallium levels reaching up to 899 parts per million, each matching the geochemical signature of the section Andros ores. The squad noted that manganese and barium, people contiguous successful those ores, acted arsenic flux agents, lowering furnace temperatures without abstracted addition.

Andros weapons accumulation tied to Alexander the Great’s Era

Mineral phases successful the slags, including wustite, fayalite, bustamite, and tephroite, corroborate bloomery ironmaking astatine temperatures astir 1,200 degrees Celsius (2,192 degrees Fahrenheit).

A ternary diagram investigation placed the slag chemistry successful a portion accordant with smithing, shaping robust into finished objects, alternatively than superior ore smelting. Phosphorus enrichment successful the slags, higher than successful the earthy ores, besides suggests that calcium-rich metamorphic rocks from the land were added arsenic flux material.

Mosaic depicting Alexander the Great. Credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Well-preserved Hellenistic towers adjacent the past mines astatine Agios Petros, akin to defender towers recovered adjacent mining sites crossed Naxos, Kythnos, Serifos, and Sifnos, suggest the ore sources were actively protected during this period.

The researchers noted that the Macedonian rulers apt introduced ironworking techniques developed connected akin robust and manganese deposits successful Macedonia and Thrace.

The operations look to person ceased successful the 2nd period BC, coinciding with a reorganization of the agora. Whether the past weapons and artefacts produced determination served nonstop subject purposes nether Macedonian bid remains an unfastened question, the researchers said, noting that a fuller representation of the full robust proviso concatenation is inactive needed.