05-18-2019, 09:05 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-21-2019, 02:19 AM by Dan Howard.)
The roads would have been repaired using slag from the iron bloomery, not the iron itself. Their "iron droplets, spatters, and stains" would be indistinguishable from the iron remnants in bloomery slag. Smelters were only 80-90% efficient so 10-20% of the iron was still in the slag after the smelt.
Roman iron production resulted in millions of tons of slag byproduct and they were constantly trying to find ways to dispose of it. Adding it to road-base seems like a pretty good use to me.
Roman iron production resulted in millions of tons of slag byproduct and they were constantly trying to find ways to dispose of it. Adding it to road-base seems like a pretty good use to me.
Author: Bronze Age Military Equipment, Pen & Sword Books
