Experimental reconstruction of the ancient smelting of Donbas polymetallic ores

In recent decades, studies of ancient mining and metallurgical activities in the Russian Federation territory have become systematic, which allows for a deeper understanding of the processes of prehistoric metallurgy formation, its time and place in the country territory, the possibility of obtaining certain metals and their alloys. The results of the metallurgical processing reconstruction using ancient technologies for smelting polymetallic ores selected in the area of the ancient mining system of Donbas near the Nagolno-Tarasovsky ore node are presented. The smelting was carried out in a melting furnace and melting pot recreated according to historical data. Using electron microscopy (“Geonauka”, center for collective use of the Institute of Geology of the Komi Science Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), the material composition of the initial ore mineral such as galena, extracted in the area of the Vozrozhdenie mine of Zhuravsky silver polymetallic deposit, has been studied. The products of metallurgical processing such as lead and vitreous slag have also been studied. The peculiarities of the redistribution of the main chemical elements in melting products are revealed. It’s shown that during metallurgical processing of silver-poor galena ore, silver antimony phases of variable composition were found in the melting products. The factors ensuring the efficiency of metallurgical processing and the main stages of melting have been established. The most promising types of polymetallic ores of the ore node for silver smelting using ancient technologies are identified. The information obtained on the ancient mining and metallurgical activities within the silver polymetallic deposits of the Nagolno-Tarasovsky ore node of the Nagolny Ridge in Donbas allow us to update research on the reconstruction of ancient silver metallurgy. The experiments have shown that using a rather primitive ancient technology, it is possible not only to obtain metallic lead, but also to enrich it with silver.