On the behavior of siderophilic trace elements during iron production

主要目标是通过铁金属的化学特性，扩展已经建立的利用锇同位素确定铁来源的方法。在这个项目的范围内，将开发一种与其他亲铁元素相结合的方法，这将通过使用（非常）小样本来实现对考古铁制品起源的更有力的确定。重要的是要在实验中验证铁冶炼生产链中其他亲铁元素的理论预期行为（稳定性、挥发性、污染），并在考古案例研究中证明其适用性。除锇以外的铂族元素（PGEs）不应包括在内。从铁矿石中提取PGEs过程复杂，含量极低，几乎没有合适的比较依据。我们的研究项目将进行实验研究和考古案例研究：1。3个不同矿石熔炼实验中从矿石到块体的整个生产链分析（os -同位素数据集，发表于PlosOne， 30个样本）我们的方法的特点是，我们使用了创新和成熟的分析方法（浸渍粉末样品的激光烧蚀或金属铁的直接烧蚀，例如（Shaheen etal . 2017）），这将在未来为我们提供高精度的分析数据（所有上述微量元素和主要元素），而无需付出很大的努力。未来，其他科学家也可以以相同或类似的方式使用这种方法。这将为在本项目范围内建立更大和更完整的数据基础提供基础，从而实现对考古铁器的更安全分类。两种方法的结合——微量元素分析和os同位素分析——提供了几个优势：在这片草地上，大量的铁物体样品系列可以被组合在一起，根据它们的化学成分，只需要对物体本身进行很少的干预。进一步的破坏性分析，如矿渣夹杂物或os同位素分析，可以在较小的材料组选择上进行。此外，特征微量元素补充了锇同位素对可能矿床类型的信息，从而进一步缩小了同位素比值对特定矿床的分配范围。这种补充方法对于铁的发现特别重要，因为关于可能的冶炼地点以及诸如炉渣等冶炼废物的信息是缺失的。

The primary goal is to extend the already established method of determining the provenance of iron using osmium isotopes by the chemical characterization of the ferrous metal. Within the scope of this project, a combination of methods with other siderophilic elements will be developed, which will achieve an even more robust determination of the origin of archaeological iron artifacts using (very) small samples. It is important to verify the theoretically expected behaviour (stability, volatility, contamination) of other siderophilic elements during the production chain of iron smelting in experiments and to demonstrate the applicability in an archaeological case study. Platinum group elements (PGEs) other than osmium should not be included. The extraction of PGEs from iron ores is complex, the contents are very low and the suitable basis for comparison is practically non-existent.Our research project will be carried out on an experimental study and an archaeological case study:1. analysis of the whole production chain from ore to the lump in three smelting experiments with different ores (set of samples of the Os-isotope data published in PlosOne, 30 samples)2. analysis of 4 archaeological iron objects of the Arabah region/IsraelOur approach shall be characterized by the fact that we use innovative and proven analytical methods (laser ablation on impregnated powder samples or direct ablation of metallic iron see e.g. (Shaheen et al. 2017)), which will provide us in the future with highly precise analytical data (all of the above mentioned trace and main elements) without great effort. This approach could also be used by other scientists in the same or similar way in the future. This would provide the basis for a larger and more complete data basis within the scope of this project, which would achieve a more secure classification of archaeological iron objects.The combination of the two methods - trace element analysis and Os-isotope analysis - offers several advantages: larger sample series of iron objects can be grouped together on this meadow with only little intervention in the objects themselves according to their chemical composition. Further more destructive analyses, slag inclusions or Os-isotope analyses, could then be performed on a smaller selection of material groups. In addition, characteristic trace elements supplement the osmium isotope with information on the possible deposit type, which makes it possible to further narrow down the assignment of isotope ratios to a specific deposit. This complementary method would be of particular importance for iron finds for which information on possible smelting sites and thus also smelting waste such as slags is missing.