The DOI matches its Crossref record; 29 of the 29 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 35 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.
Iron Smelting in Sudan: Experimental Archaeology at The Royal City of Meroe
Open accessAbstract
The Royal City of Meroe, ca. 200 km north of Khartoum in the modern-day Republic of the Sudan, was an ancient capital of the Kingdom of Kush. From the 3rd century b.c. to the 4th century a.d., Kushite rulers controlled significant territory from the banks of the Nile at Meroe, in part through their ability to ensure the production of significant quantities of iron. The extensive archaeological remains of Meroitic iron production have been investigated over decades, and recently a series of experimental iron smelts in a replica Meroitic furnace has shed new light on the archaeometallurgical evidence. The data generated during the smelting campaigns has provided an understanding of the type of iron ore used, the construction and operating parameters of the furnace, and the workshop space created by the ancient iron smelters during the later and post-Meroitic times.
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Claims the paper makes
78 Own result · 39 Own interpretation · 31 Not checked yet · 14 Own method · 6 No basis given
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“UCL Qatar's intensive archaeometallurgical research at Meroe led to the identification of another iron production workshop in 2014”
§ Iron Smelting in Sudan: Experimental Archaeology at The Royal City of Meroe > Introduction
plainstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
In the paper
“recent wood species analysis has demonstrated the almost exclusive use of Acacia type nilotica charcoal for smelting at Meroe”
§ Iron Smelting in Sudan: Experimental Archaeology at The Royal City of Meroe > Charcoal
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Jane Humphris and Barbara Eichhorn, personal communication 2017
boosted- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Recent excavations within slag mounds at Meroe also revealed intermittent layers of reddish orange crushed material (FIGURE 2).”
§ Iron Smelting in Sudan: Experimental Archaeology at The Royal City of Meroe > Ore
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Recent excavations of later and post-Kushite iron production waste support this size estimate”
§ Iron Smelting in Sudan: Experimental Archaeology at The Royal City of Meroe > Charcoal
plainstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: unclear — It is unclear why the paper says it holds.
A result the paper states — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“(the small pebble [ < 2 mm] and sand sized particles were judged too fine for effective smelting).”
§ Iron Smelting in Sudan: Experimental Archaeology at The Royal City of Meroe > Ore
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- It may state two separate claims as one. 72
- Probably not a substantial claim. 51
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Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ Iron Smelting in Sudan: Experimental Archaeology at The Royal City of Meroe > MS4
“The furnace consumed 71.25 kg of charcoal and 34 kg of ore.”
§ Iron Smelting in Sudan: Experimental Archaeology at The Royal City of Meroe > Conclusion
“MS4 (1/28/15) | Full-scale | Oolitic | Natural draft and | 2.5:3 (×4) | 17 | 36 | 54 | 5:19 | 0 | Pre-charged with ore and charcoal. Small amount of fluid |”
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
“MS6 (12/3/15) | Full-scale | Oolitic | Natural draft and | 7:8 (×7) | 55 | 24 | 92 | 6:30 | | Pre-charged, natural draft, bellows for last 2.5 hrs.”
§ Iron Smelting in Sudan: Experimental Archaeology at The Royal City of Meroe > Conclusion
Reported 92 · recomputed 80
Citations
Cites
The Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute
(1898) · Nature · doi:10.1038/058150c0 · Cited by 792
Handbook of Archaeological Sciences
Pollard, A. M., & Brothwell, D. R. (2001) · University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) · Cited by 743
Iron in Archaeology: The European Bloomery Smelters
Pleiner, R. (2000) · Cited by 188
The Mastery and Uses of Fire in Antiquity
Rehder, J. E. (2000) · McGill-Queen's University Press eBooks · doi:10.1515/9780773568556 · Cited by 113
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT AFRICAN IRON WORKING?
Killick, D. J. (2004) · Journal of African Archaeology · doi:10.3213/1612-1651-10021 · Cited by 103
The Myth of Meroe and the African Iron Age
Trigger, B. G. (1969) · African Historical Studies · doi:10.2307/216325 · Cited by 88
An ancient wind-powered iron smelting technology in Sri Lanka
Juleff, G. (1996) · Nature · doi:10.1038/379060a0 · Cited by 57
Adaptation of Technology to Culture and Environment: Bloomery Iron Smelting in America and Africa
Gordon, R. B., & Killick, D. J. (1993) · Technology and Culture · doi:10.2307/3106536 · Cited by 54
Young, T. P. (1989) · Geological Society London Special Publications · doi:10.1144/gsl.sp.1989.046.01.07 · Cited by 52
Humphris, J., & Carey, C. (2016) · Journal of Archaeological Science · doi:10.1016/j.jas.2016.04.022 · Cited by 43
Self-citation
Research works printed but not linked: 11
- Crew P., 1986, The Crafts of the Blacksmith, 91
- Haaland R., 1985, African Iron Working, 50
- Humphris J., 2014, Sudan & Nubia, 18, 121
- Humphris J., 2014, Ein Forscherleben Zwischen den Welten, 177
- Humphris J., Azania
- Killick D., 1991, Recent Trends in Archaeometallurgical Research, 47
- Rehren T., 2001, Mitteilungen der Sudanarchäologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin e. V., 12, 102
- Rehren T., 2007, Metals and Mines: Studies in Archaeometallurgy, 211
- Sauder L., 2002, Historical Metallurgy, 36, 122
- Sayce A. H., 1912, Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, 4, 55
- Shinnie P. L., 2004, The Capital of Kush 2. Meroe Excavations 1973–1984
Cited by
Early Balkan Metallurgy: Origins, Evolution and Society, 6200–3700 BC
Radivojević, M., & Roberts, B. W. (2021) · Journal of World Prehistory · doi:10.1007/s10963-021-09155-7 · Cited by 40
Radivojević, M., Roberts, B. W., Marić, M. M., Kuzmanovic-Cvetković, J., & Rehren, T. (2021) · Archaeopress Publishing Ltd eBooks · doi:10.32028/9781803270425 · Cited by 39
Mobile Technologies in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond
(2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108908047 · Cited by 38
The ancient iron mines of Meroe
Humphris, J., Bussert, R., Alshishani, F., & Scheibner, T. (2018) · Azania Archaeological Research in Africa · doi:10.1080/0067270x.2018.1515922 · Cited by 31
Self-citationBy the hand of the smelter: tracing the impact of decision-making in bloomery iron smelting
Stepanov, I. S., Sauder, L., Keen, J., Workman, V., & Behar, A. E. (2022) · Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences · doi:10.1007/s12520-022-01516-3 · Cited by 28
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Humphris, J., Charlton, M. F., Keen, J., Sauder, L., & Alshishani, F.
- Affiliations
- University College London Qatar (QA)
- The Ancient Technology Centre, Cranborne, UK
- Germinal Ironworks, Lexington, Virginia
- American Center of Oriental Research (US)
- Corresponding author
- Humphris, Jane
- Venue
- Journal of Field Archaeology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2018-06-25
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 399-416
- ISSN
- 0093-4690 (ISSN-L)
- 2042-4582
- OpenAlex
- W2811120229
- Semantic Scholar
- 86e452b4662575afb3302776b4892b24bfa7719d
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 19.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- Journal of Field Archaeology (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Apollo
- Funders
- Qatar-Sudan Archaeology Project
- UCL Qatar
- British Institute in Eastern Africa
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Archeology › Metallurgy and Cultural Artifacts
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology (arts and humanities) › Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Metals and Alloys › Metallurgical Processes and Thermodynamics
- Keywords
- iron smelting, Meroe, Kingdom of Kush, experimental archaeology, archaeometallurgy, iron ore, furnace construction, ancient ironworking
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