Iron Age iron smelting, Folly Court, Wokingham and the interpretation of 'dome' furnaces

Excavations produced evidence for a Middle Iron Age iron smelting centre, probably of the 2nd century BC, with four iron smelting furnaces, three of a large ‘dome’ morphology and one smaller, more conventional, slagpit-type. A total of over 800 kg of slag was recovered from the site, indicating an operation of some significance. Details of furnace construction and large suites of archaeometallurgical residues were recovered for two successive examples of the ‘dome’ furnaces. ‘Dome’ furnaces are rare and poorly known from the British Iron Age, although common in parts of Europe. New evidence shows that they may have been operated on a continuum with smaller furnace types. Precise interpretation was hampered by ambiguities within the compositional modelling, but these furnaces both illustrate the sophistication of Iron Age iron smelting in Britain and demonstrate the need for its more nuanced and evidence-driven interpretation.