Dr Fabian Wadsworth fabian.b.wadsworth@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor
Local geology controlled the feasibility of vitrifying Iron Age buildings
Wadsworth, Fabian B.; Heap, Michael J.; Damby, David E.; Hess, Kai-Uwe; Najorka, Jens; Vasseur, Jérémie; Fahrner, Dominik; Dingwell, Donald B.
Authors
Michael J. Heap
David E. Damby
Kai-Uwe Hess
Jens Najorka
Jérémie Vasseur
Dominik Fahrner
Donald B. Dingwell
Abstract
During European prehistory, hilltop enclosures made from polydisperse particle-and-block stone walling were exposed to temperatures sufficient to partially melt the constituent stonework, leading to the preservation of glassy walls called ‘vitrified forts’. During vitrification, the granular wall rocks partially melt, sinter viscously and densify, reducing inter-particle porosity. This process is strongly dependent on the solidus temperature, the particle sizes, the temperature-dependence of the viscosity of the evolving liquid phase, as well as the distribution and longevity of heat. Examination of the sintering behaviour of 45 European examples reveals that it is the raw building material that governs the vitrification efficiency. As Iron Age forts were commonly constructed from local stone, we conclude that local geology directly influenced the degree to which buildings were vitrified in the Iron Age. Additionally, we find that vitrification is accompanied by a bulk material strengthening of the aggregates of small sizes, and a partial weakening of larger blocks. We discuss these findings in the context of the debate surrounding the motive of the wall-builders. We conclude that if wall stability by bulk strengthening was the desired effect, then vitrification represents an Iron Age technology that failed to be effective in regions of refractory local geology.
Citation
Wadsworth, F. B., Heap, M. J., Damby, D. E., Hess, K., Najorka, J., Vasseur, J., …Dingwell, D. B. (2017). Local geology controlled the feasibility of vitrifying Iron Age buildings. Scientific Reports, 7, Article 40028. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40028
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Nov 30, 2016 |
Online Publication Date | Jan 12, 2017 |
Publication Date | Jan 12, 2017 |
Deposit Date | Mar 20, 2018 |
Publicly Available Date | Apr 18, 2018 |
Journal | Scientific Reports |
Publisher | Nature Research |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 7 |
Article Number | 40028 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40028 |
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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