MACROSCOPIC ANALISYS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS

January, February 2025

At the Early Iron Age site of Sv. Križ, dating to the 6th and 5th centuries BC and located in the western part of the Prigorje region, archaeological investigations carried out in 2023 and 2024 revealed traces of iron metallurgy. As a result of collaboration between two HRZZ projects (KulturFER and TRANS RIVERS), a macroscopic analysis of archaeological material related to ironworking – including slag, ore, and semi-finished products (293 samples) – was conducted at the beginning of 2025, along with mineralogical (XRD) and geochemical (p-XRF) analyses of selected samples. Samples were also selected for further detailed geochemical analysis (ICP-MS, AES) (Tena Karavidović, Tajana Sekelj Ivančan, Tomislav Brenko).

Smithing slag cake, cross-section