Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 27 (1982) (Pécs, 1983)

Régészet - Ecsedy István: Ásatások Zók-Várhegyen (1977–1982)

90 ECSEDY ISTVÁN ted by the results of the slag analyses at the Zók settlement. The slag is similar to the smelting slags which is not surprizing since the refining of copper repeats a part of the smelting operation. The slag occuring this way and taken off from the surface of melted copper is not a „crucible slag" but apparently smelting slag. The foamy, very light slag which contained copper in a minimal quantity only, must have been thrown into the refuse in the course of this process.

33 Traces of the use of lime can also be seen in the subsequent phase of the casting. A much thinner coat of the same material is applied to the inside of the moulds just in the same way as in the case of the crucibles, partly for the sake of heat insulation, partly to make the surface of the cast smoother and easily separable from the mould. It is worth noting that the moulds show the same networks of carving but these are shallower than those inside the crucibles. This process is well illustrated by the moulds for daggers from Sarvas

34

, belonging to the same culture, or by the mouldfragment which was fjound in one of the pits at the Nagyárpád-Dióstető site (uncovered by Gábor Bandi) belonging to the Somogyvár-Vinkovci Culture.

35 No clay tuyere or its fragments have come to light at Zók-Várhegy which is rather strange because there can be no melting without bellows.

36 It is likely that, when making a melting furnace, they made sure there would be appropriate openings in the inside of the furnace and in its wall so that protection of the nose of the bellows by help of a special clay tuyere became unnecessary. Thick walled plastered hearths of clay, being of comparatively small size, could serve as melting furnaces with suitable openings for the crucibles. Part of the highly burnt plastering showing marks of lime on their surfaces and found in the pit 1977/36, probably came from a melting furnace, the wall of which would have been coated with lime.

37 The most important and most hazardous phase of the manufacturing of tools is the pouring of the liquid metal into the mould. So as to carry out this operation successfully, a careful arrangement of suitably prepared moulds was necessary. When describing the individual moulds we mentioned that they were made of a particular material, different from that of vessels and other ceramics, the former being a mixture of quarz-sand and clay. Thus it was necessary all the more to ensure that the moulds would be maximally heatresistant. (In order that there be a successful casting of the metall, the prepared moulds had to be considerably preheated). The gaining of the smoothest surface possible of the inside of the mould was equally important. In the case of moulds of material mixed with too fine a sand, especially preceding their first use, the operation of dressing was applied. That is, the mould and the shaft-core were held over the flames of heavily sooting materials like oil or grease. The soot which is burnt into the surface indicate this procedure.

38 Apart from this way of dressing the above mentioned lime-coating played a considerable role. The clay moulds

39 were obviously not as lasting as those made of stone but they could be replaced by new ones in a considerably shorter time and the choice of different types could be ensured for a longer period. For the resident metallurgist not wandering from village to village but working for the provision of one settlement and its surroundings, it was sensible to make the moulds not of stone, but of clay. The precondition of the making and remaking of moulds had to be a „model collection". This would probably have been carved from wood since directly on the basis of a metal axe, no clay mould can be produced which would make the casting of an instrument of the same size possible. The volume of the mould, when burnt, will become smaller so that the model according to which the clay mould is made must be proportionally larger than the copper instrument to be cast in it. It is most probable that on the basis of the wooden model they made both halves of the mould again even if only one of them went wrong, thus ensuring that the elements would be identical and the decrease of the volume would be proportionally the same. Taking this into consideration we, can assume that even the metallurgists of the period in question working occasionally only in their relatively small workshops left a considerable quantity of specific refuse behind. For the casting of a shaft-hole axe it is important to prepare a shaft-core marking the place of the shaft-hole. Its size and situation is important all the more because in this way the precise joint of the two halves of the mould can be ensured.

40 The moulds uncovered at Zók suggest that two methods were applied in this respect. The rim of the shaft-core widens out in order to ensure a good join

41 and the domeshaped hollow which can be seen above the rim of one of the moulds serves to take in the ball formed piece on top of the shaftcore. This solution prevents the two nagatives of the mould from coming out of place. To stabilize the fitted moulds by simply binding them would not have been possible. The preheated mould had to be situated so that casting could be begun in the shortest time possible by tilting the crucible immediately after it had been taken off from the hearth (after the slag had been removed from it).

42 It is probable that the jointed and bound mould was, partly at least, encased in clay, thus being stabilized.

43 Naturally, the clay со-