The production of ferrum Noricum at Hüttenberg, Austria – the

results of archaeological excavations carried out from 2003 to

2010 at the site Semlach/Eisner

Brigitte Cech

Abstract In the middle of the 1st century AD, under the Emperor
Claudius, the new capital Virunum was established in the
Archaeological research on the production of ferrum plains at the foot of the Magdalensberg, on the main north-
Noricum – Noric steel – in Hüttenberg, Carinthia, Austria south oriented Roman road passing through Noricum, which
started in 2003. To date, six furnaces, twelve smithing continues across the Alps to Aquileia, the Roman trading
hearths, an ore roasting pit, the remains of a charcoal kiln, port in the Northern Adriatic Sea, from where Noric steel
as well as beam slots and post holes of wooden buildings was shipped all over the Roman world (Fig. 1, 1).
and stone foundations of houses were uncovered. Accord-
ing to the current state of research, iron smelting at the site
started in the 1st century BC and lasted until the beginning
of the second half of the 4th century AD. The presence of
buildings on the site, as well as finds of pottery sherds,
fragments of glass vessels and animal bones show that the
workers and administrators lived on the site.

Key words: Roman iron production, ferrum Noricum,

bloomery furnaces, smithing hearths, living conditions of
the personnel.

1. Introduction
Ferrum Noricum, Noric steel, is mentioned as high-
quality steel in Latin and Greek literary sources since the
end of the 1st century BC. Diplomatic and commercial con-
nections between Noricum and Rome, however, date back
to the first half of the 2nd century BC (Livius 39, 22 and
54-5; 40, 34 and 53; 43, 50) and finally led to the foun-
dation of a Roman trading post at the Magdalensberg in
the first half of the 1st century BC (Piccottini 1996). Ex-
cavations and surveys conducted at the Magdalensberg in
the last couple of years show that this trading post was
connected to a Late La Tène period oppidum (Artner et
al. 2008; Artner and Dolenz 2009; Dolenz 2009). The sub-
sequent Romanisation of the Noric people facilitated the
peaceful annexation of Noricum by Rome in 15 BC and the
Magdalensberg became the first administrative and com-
mercial centre of the new province. Numerous iron bars,
and half finished as well as finished iron objects found in
the city on the Magdalensberg provide evidence of trade
with ferrum Noricum (Dolenz 1996, 1998).

In: B. Cech & Th. Rehren (eds) 2014. Early Iron in Europe.
Instrumentum Monographies 50, 11-20. Fig. 1: 1 – Map of Noricum with the main Roman roads (after
ISBN 978-2-35518-041-5 © The Authors. Glaser 2005).

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 Early Iron in Europe

It has long been suspected that Hüttenberg, with its of Mösel, and two more near Kitschdorf. Unfortunately,
rich manganiferous iron ores (siderite and limonite) that most of these furnaces were either partially or entirely
were mined until 1978, was the centre of production of destroyed before the arrival of the archaeologists. The
this famous steel. The oxidised zone of the deposit reaches documented furnaces are big shaft furnaces similar to the
great depths. It was this ore that was smelted in antiquity. ones found at the site Semlach/Eisner. In 1932, bloomery
Limonite found at the Roman site Semlach/Eisner contains furnaces were supposedly discovered near Klein St.Paul
between 41 and 57% iron and a little less than 2% manga- (Glaser 2005).
nese (Prochaska 2008).

3. Iron smelting sites in Hüttenberg

2. Roman sites in the area around
Hüttenberg During the construction of the railway in 1871, the
remains of two bloomery furnaces of unknown date, but
The village of Hüttenberg, with its Erzberg (ore moun- probably Roman, were found at Preisenhofgrund, at the
tain), is situated in the north-south running Görtschitztal. site also called Mösel-Gitterbrücke (Fig. 2, site 3). The
To the south of Hüttenberg, a secondary Roman road led fact that only the part of the furnaces that was sunk into the
from the Görtschitztal to the southwest, joining the main ground was preserved led to their interpretation as bowl
road from Ovilava to Virunum in the vicinity of Matu- furnaces (Münichsdorfer 1871; Schmid 1932: 15-7 and
caium, today Treibach. At the end of the 19th century, Ro- Fig. 8; Sperl 2003: 72). The drawing of a section through
man settlements and burial sites, as well as two Roman these features and their description however shows that the
milestones, were discovered along this road. furnaces resemble the ones found at the site Semlach/Eisner.
At the junction of this secondary road with the Gört– They are large bloomery furnaces, sunk into the ground to
schitztal near Mösel, remains of a Roman settlement were a depth of 63 and 95 cm, with the largest diameter of 158
uncovered during rescue excavations in 1950 and 1973. respectively 126 cm. The freestanding shafts had collapsed
During the construction of a pipeline in 1978, five fur- and fallen into the sunken part of the furnaces.
naces were found near Mösel, three furnaces to the south In 1884, the skeletons of two miners, four coins from
the 3rd century AD and pieces of Roman pottery were found
during underground mining (Schmid 1932: 12).

Fig. 2: Map of Hüttenberg, Semlach/Eisner (1), Kreuztratte (2),

Fig. 1: 2 – Roman sites near Hüttenberg (after Glaser 2005). Preisenhofgrund (3), old mine adit (4).

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 Brigitte Cech: The production of ferrum Noricum at Hüttenberg

have also been found in the course of the survey (Fig. 3).
These tools were most probably used like picks to mine
the soft limonite of the oxidised zone of the ore deposit.
The hafting, as well as other Roman finds in the vicinity,
suggest a dating of these tools to the Roman period. They
were most probably made by the local smiths according
to the specifications of the miners. Traces of a similar tool
have been observed in the limonite of a late Iron Age mine
at Piani d’Erna (Rota and Tizzoni 2006).
However, the most important site on the Hüttenberger
Erzberg is the site Semlach/Eisner (Fig. 2, 1), where sys-
tematic excavations took place from 2003 to 2010 (Cech
2008a; Cech, in press).

4. The site Semlach/Eisner

4.1. Topography and geomagnetic survey
The central part of this site lies at an altitude of 957 to
962 m above sea level on gently sloping pasture (Fig. 4).
It is bounded to the west by huge slag deposits, to the east
Fig. 3: Hüttenberg: Roman mining tool found near an old mine it extends down the slopes of the Löllinggraben, and to the
adit in the old mining district (photography: A. Rausch, drawing: south as far as the Jakamkogel Hill (see Fig. 2). A network
S. von Osten). of disused hollow ways to the west of the site leads to the
ore deposits on the Hüttenberger Erzberg and down to the
Jakamkogel.
The geomagnetic survey was carried out in four stages.
In 1929, archaeological excavations at the site Kreuz- Stage 1 was aimed at finding sites by talking to the locals
tratte (Fig. 2, site 2), also called site Lölling, uncovered and researching and locating published sites. According to
features interpreted as a bloomery furnace of the Roman the results of this stage, the site Semlach/Eisner was selected
period, although no dating finds were discovered at the for detailed survey. Stage 2 consisted of the verification of
site (Schmid 1932). This ‘furnace’ sits on top of a slag de- the information gained in stage 1 with the help of geophysi-
posit. It consists of dry stone walls, and the inside of the cal search profiles using a very large grid. According to the
shaft was not lined with clay and showed only slight dis- results of stage 2, the central part of the site was located
coloration from heat. Despite these rather unusual aspects and a more detailed survey, using a grid of 2.5 by 2.5 m,
for a bloomery furnace, the interpretation of Schmid was was undertaken (stage 3). The results obtained in this phase
taken for granted and this ‘furnace’ was considered the formed the basis for stage 4; the detailed survey of areas
characteristic type of furnace for the production of fer- destined for archaeological excavation with a grid of 1 by
rum Noricum (Tylecote 1987: 156-7, 168; Straube 1996: 1m, respectively 0.5 to 0.5 m (Walach 2008).
59-60). Unfortunately the ‘furnace’ itself was destroyed Despite the fact that the presence of slags everywhere
during the construction of a road, but archival research on the site made the interpretation of the results of the geo-
and a trench dug through the slag deposit in 2003 re-
vealed the ‘furnace’ to have been a lime kiln dating to
the early modern period, when farm houses were built at
the Kreuztratte. The slag deposit contained pottery of the
late 13th/early 14th century, as well as numerous pieces of
tuyères and channel slags typical for medieval slag de-
posits (Cech et al. 2004).
During a field survey conducted at the Hüttenberger
Erzberg, a small slag deposit was found in the old mining
area near an old mine adit (Fig. 2, 4). In addition to small
pieces of tap slag, vitrified furnace lining, smithing slag
and two small blooms were found at this site. Fragments
of fibulae and Roman coins of the 2nd and 4th century AD
allow the dating of this site to the Roman period. In the
near vicinity of the above mentioned mine adit, thirteen Fig. 4: The site Semlach/Eisner with the Magdalensberg in the
very unusual mining tools, weighing between 2 and 4 kg, background – view to the south (photography: B. Cech).

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 Early Iron in Europe

magnetic survey very difficult, excellent results could be

obtained. All furnaces excavated so far showed as distinc-
tive anomalies on the isanomalic maps of the survey. Fur-
nace 1 in trench 3 was dug solely according to the results
of geomagnetics and represents an excellent example of
the advantages of this methodology. Figure 5 shows the
results of a highly detailed survey combined with the ar-
chaeological features. The interpretation of the anomalies
corresponds very well with the results of the archaeologi-
cal excavation, which illustrates the importance of highly
detailed surveys for the selection of areas for excavation
(Walach 2008).

Fig. 5: Semlach/Eiser: Detailed geomagnetic survey: Isanomalic Fig. 6: Semlach/Eisner: Map of the central part of the site with
map (geomagnetic vertical gradient) with the results of the ar- excavated areas (2003-2010) (S – trench).
chaeological excavation (trench 3), grid 0.5 x 0.5 m (isanomalic
map: G.K. Walach).

deforestation in the course of extensive mining and smelt-

ing activities. This event was followed by a period of soil
4.2. Archaeological excavations at the site formation on the site, although a precise dating of contexts
Semlach/Eisner predating the landslide is not possible on the basis of cur-
rent evidence.
General chronology In the course of the renewal of smelting activities fol-
To date, 988 m² of the central part of the site have been lowing the landslide, the area was divided into two sec-
excavated. The trenches 1, 2 and 5-14 are located adja- tions by north-south running walls located to the west of
cent to each other in the central part of the excavated area; the site, which follow a sharp break in the slope of the
trench 3 with furnace 1 is situated to the north, and trench original surface. These walls separate the slag deposit –
4, with artificial terracing of as yet unknown purpose, lies which has a depth of up to 6 m – from the working and
to the south of this central zone (Fig. 6). living area (Fig. 7).
On the basis of the data obtained so far, the chronology During the reorganisation of the site after the landslide
of the site can be reconstructed as follows: potsherds sug- the northern section of the western wall was erected to
gest a beginning of the activity in the Late La Tène period separate the working and living area from the slag deposit.
(Artner 2008b). To date, no features belonging to this pe- A small cistern, where water was collected from a spring
riod were uncovered. The earliest features discovered so to the north of the site was erected adjacent to the western
far are beam slot construction 1 and postholes dug into the wall (Fig. 8).
subsoil (Fig. 7). Ceramic finds date these features to the Evidence of the smelting activity following the land-
period of the early Principate. Around the end of the 1st/ slide are furnace 6, which cuts into beam slot construction
beginning of the 2nd century AD, a landslide, originating 2, an ore roasting pit (Fig. 9), and smithing hearths 6 to
in the hills to the north of the site, deposited material over 10. Due to the general lack of datable finds, these earliest
these features. Numerous sherds of Late Bronze Age pot- activities after the landslide can for the most part only be
tery were found in this deposit and suggest a Bronze Age attributed to the 2nd century AD.
settlement at the point of origin of the landslide (Artner Towards the end of the 2nd century AD the site was re-
2008a). The landslide is likely to have been the result of organised again. The ore roasting pit and furnace 6 were

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 Brigitte Cech: The production of ferrum Noricum at Hüttenberg

Fig. 7: Semlach/Eisner: The central part of the excavation (trenches 1, 2 and 5 to 14): The archaeological features.

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 Early Iron in Europe

Fig. 8: Semlach/Eisner: The water cistern – view to the west

(photography B. Cech).

Fig. 11: Semlach/Eisner: The enclosed smelting area – view to

the west (SH – smithing hearth) (photography: B. Cech).

from the western side of the house to its northern side (Fig.
10). Probably around the same time another house (house
3) was built 6 m to the north of house 1. This house is
Fig. 9: Semlach/Eisner: The ore roasting pit – view to the west situated in trench 14 and has not yet been excavated in its
(photography: B. Cech).
entirety. The southern wall is 9 m long and its extension
to the north is yet unknown. It had stone foundations and
probably wooden walls and a wooden floor. Its function is
as yet unknown.
At the same time as house 1 the southern section of
the western wall was built and another wall, running
roughly in an east-west direction, was erected to form an
enclosure together with the western wall. This enclosure
contains a smelting area consisting of four furnaces (fur-
nace 2 to 5) and five smithing hearths dating to a period
between the end of the 2nd and the middle of the 3rd cen-
tury AD (Fig. 11).
During the excavations of 2009, part of a large building
that was erected after house 1 had collapsed was uncov-
ered. It is 12 m wide and has an entrance with a width of
3 m (Fig. 12). The dimensions of this building suggest an
Fig. 10: Semlach/Eisner: House 1, the younger phase with the
cooking range to the north – view to the west (photography: B.
interpretation as a storage hall. An exact dating is not yet
Cech). possible; however, the stratigraphy points to a dating to the
period of the late Roman Empire.
The latest Roman features are furnace 1, which dendro-
chronology dates to the 1st half of the 4th century AD1, and
given up and levelled with slags. The cistern was aban-
doned, and a house with a stone foundation and timber-
frame walls was built on top of it. It covers an area of 5 by 1 Dendrochronology: Michael Grabner, Institute of Wood Sci-
6 m. The floor was made of mortar and renewed once. In ence and Technology, University of Natural Resources and
the course of this renewal, the cooking range was moved Applied Life Sciences, Vienna.

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 Brigitte Cech: The production of ferrum Noricum at Hüttenberg

Fig. 12: Semlach/Eisner: The storage hall – view to the east (photography: F. Stremke).

the remains of a charcoal burning kiln of the late Roman

period found in the upper strata of trenches 11 and 12.
The end of the Roman period was marked by a period
of soil formation. In the medieval period (12th/13th cen-
tury), refuse from butchering and hunting was buried in
a shallow pit, following which the site was levelled and
used as farmland, which is the explanation for the excel-
lent preservation of the archaeological features.

The furnaces
The Semlach/Eisner furnaces are large shaft furnaces
from which slag could be tapped during smelting (Fig. 13).
They were sunk into the ground to a depth of between 80
and 110 cm, with a working pit for slag tapping and bloom
extraction in front. The freestanding shaft was not pre- Fig. 13: Semlach/Eisner: Furnace 2 – view to the west (photo-
served. Their largest diameter varied between 80 and 124 graphy: B. Cech).
cm and lay just below the inner openings of the blowholes
defining the structures’ combustion zones. The construction
of the front of the furnaces is unknown, as, in all cases, it
was destroyed when the bloom was extracted following
the final smelt. The front parts of furnaces 1, 4 and 6 were The furnace walls consisted of clay tempered with
flanked by standing stones to provide structural strength and quartz, and were 30 to 40 cm thick. The surrounding sub-
facilitate rebuilding after each smelt. Furnace 3 consisted of soil and bedrock were discoloured by heating to a depth
four consecutive furnaces built one inside the other. They of up to 40 cm around the furnaces. The diameter of the
are separated from each other by layers of vitrified furnace furnace base varied between 80 and 115 cm. The base of
lining (Fig. 14). Furnaces 5 and 6 consisted of two consecu- furnace 1 was covered with stone slabs with a layer of very
tive furnaces each, once again built one inside the other. small slag fragments sealed beneath them as insulation.

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 Early Iron in Europe

Fig. 14: Semlach/Eisner: Furnace 3, the consecutive furnace li- Fig. 15: Semlach/Eisner: Furnace 6 – view to the west (photog-
nings are clearly visible – view to the south (photography: B. raphy: B. Cech).
Cech).

Furnace 6 is slightly different from the other five fur- The tap slags of the site Semlach/Eisner are iron sili-
naces. Its freestanding shaft was built of sundried bricks cate slags with a MnO content of up to 10 mass percent.
(Fig. 15). The precise dating of this furnace is still unclear. The manganese contained in the ore passes completely
Stratigraphically, it predates house 1. into the slag during reduction. The combined content of
In all cases, the inner surfaces of the furnaces are heav- Al2O3, CaO, MgO, P2O5, TiO2 and K2O is less than 6 mass
ily vitrified and, in the case of furnace 1, the vitrified clay percent. The tap slags consist of around 45 surface percent
had flowed downwards and covered part of the furnace olivine and 16 surface percent wüstite. Most of the Mn2+ is
base. In furnaces 2 to 6, the vitrification reaches to just bound to the mix-crystal of the olivine (Preßlinger 2008).
below the inner openings of the blowholes. In the bases of furnaces 2 to 5, the remains of the final
The preserved blowholes run from the ancient ground smelts were found, consisting of slag, fragments of quartz
surface at an angle of 30° to 48° into the interiors of the and ore, including partially reduced ore, and charcoal. A
furnaces, their inner openings being located between 40 ‘bear’ (a large fused lump of slag, partially including ore
and 60 cm above the bases of the furnaces. Each furnace and quartz) was also recovered in the vicinity of these fur-
originally had at least three but probably four blowholes, naces (Preßlinger 2008).
one being preserved in furnace 4, two in furnaces 1, 3, 5
and 6, and three in furnace 2. No evidence of the use of The finds as indicators of the living conditions of
forced blast (bellows) in the form of tuyères was recov- the people working on the site
ered, though carbonised wood plugs were found inside the The archaeological finds consist of numerous pot-
blowholes of furnaces 2, 3, 4 and 5. These are probably the tery sherds (local and imported wares) (Steiner 2008),
result of the insertion of green wood into the blowholes to fragments of glass vessels (Tarcsay 2008), iron objects,
prevent the vitrified furnace lining from sealing their inner coins, fibulae, and quern stones of hand mills for grinding
apertures at the end of the smelting process. grain (Cech 2008b).
Most of the fragments of the glass vessels as well as
The smithing hearths quite a lot of imported pottery but also numerous sherds of
All in all, twelve small earthbound smithing hearths have pots used for cooking and bowls and plates for eating were
been uncovered to date. They consist of shallow depressions found in the vicinity of house 1. Other finds around house
lined with clay varying in size between 40 by 40 cm and 120 1 are a stilus, a fragment of a lion-headed furniture fitting
by 40 cm, and often contain in situ smithing slags. The prox- or door-knocker made of bronze and coins of the 2nd cen-
imity of smithing hearths 1 to 5 to furnaces 2 to 5 suggests tury AD. These finds together with the fact that the house
that they were used for bloom smithing (Fig. 16). a mortared floor and a cooking range that certainly also
served to heat the house in winter are indicators that this
Metallurgical waste house was used for more than one purpose. It was proba-
The tap slags from the site are very brittle and break bly the seat respectively the office of an administrator who
easily into small pieces. However, some larger slabs, as showed his status by using imported glass and pottery. On
well as cone-shaped fragments, were recovered, a feature the other hand the ordinary cooking vessels and dishes for
which suggests that the tapping opening was well above eating point to its use as a communal kitchen. The quern
the surface of the working pit into which the slag flowed. stones of handmills show that grain was ground on site and
Other slag morphologies include dense, compact slabs of numerous animal bones, mostly of pigs and cattle, but also
slag with flat surfaces. a few bones of sheep and goats provide further evidence of

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 Brigitte Cech: The production of ferrum Noricum at Hüttenberg

spatial organisation of the site changed a couple of times

during its occupation. The material finds recovered provide
evidence of the working and living conditions of the work-
ers and administrators living at the site. Huge slag deposits
show that iron was smelted here on a large scale over a con-
siderable period of time. Bloom smithing was carried out
in small earthbound smithing hearths located in the vicinity
of the furnaces. The size and construction of the six fur-
naces excavated so far provide evidence of the expertise of
the smelters working here. As might be expected with a site
of this magnitude and complexity, many questions that still
need answering arose during the research carried out dur-
ing the last eight years. They concern mainly the smelting
technology employed at the site and its possible change over
Fig. 16: Semlach/Eisner: Smithing hearth 2 – view to the east the centuries, the working and living conditions of the per-
(photography: B. Cech). sonnel and their organisation and administration, the spa-
tial organisation of a Roman industrial complex, as well as
the relation of the history of Roman iron production around
Hüttenberg to the Roman history of the region. Addressing
the diet of the people living at the site. The butchering pat- these questions is the aim of future research.
terns observed on these bones are consistent with patterns
observed in urban Roman settlements (Böhm 2008).
The presence of women is proven by the find of scat- Acknowledgements
tered bones of one or two children that died at birth or in
early infancy as well as fibulae that were only worn by The research was financed by the Austrian Science
women. Two fragments of loom weights and a bronze Fund (2003-2005: project P16069-GP02; 2008-2010:
spindle-hook from a hand-spindle are evidence of working project P20641-G02) and the European Union (2006-
in wool which was traditionally done by women. 2007: project “Iron Route”, Alpine Space Interreg IIIB).
A few craftmen`s tools were also found at the site. A The author thanks all her colleagues and students who are
small double point used for enlarging holes in leatherwork- involved in the research in Hüttenberg and without whose
ing is not evidence of actual leather industry, but of repairing enthusiastic cooperation it would have been impossible to
shoes, belts or leather aprons used by the smelters. A pointed carry out this project.
drill, a small fragment of a knife-edged file for sharpening
saws and a small wedge can be identified as woodworker`s
tools. Woodworking was most definitely done on the site. Bibliography
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 Early Iron in Europe

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Author’s address
Preßlinger, H., 2008, Ferrum Noricum – Archäometallurgische
Untersuchungsergebnisse von Schlacken und Stahlproduk- Brigitte Cech
ten (Ferrum Noricum – Archaeometallurgy of slags and UCL Qatar
steel products), in Die Produktion von Ferrum Noricum PO Box 25256
am Hüttenberger Erzberg. Die Ergebnisse der interdiszi- Georgetown Building
plinären Forschungen auf der Fundstelle Semlach/Eisner Hamad bin Khalifa University
in den Jahren 2003 – 2005 (The production of Ferrum No-
ricum at the Hüttenberger Erzberg. The results of inter- Doha
disciplinary research at Semlach/Eisner between 2003 – Qatar
2005) (ed. B. Cech), 232-50, Austria Antiqua 2, Wien. e-mail: b.cech@gmx.at

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