The Piazza dei Cavalieri blacksmith shop, a metal-working forge in use between the 12th and 13th centuries, was identified within the Piazza dei Cavalieri in Pisa, Italy, in 2008. The shop was discovered when archaeologists were seeking the foundations of the medieval church called San Sebastiano alle Fabbriche Maggiori ("San Sebastian near the blacksmith workshops"), which is known from historical documents to have been built in the 11th century and demolished in the 16th.
The Piazza was near the center of medieval Pisa, and as such it was an important region during the middle ages. The earliest iron-working evidence discovered in the Piazza to date is dated to the 7th-8th century AD. Two structures associated with the iron working were discovered in 2008, consisting of a blacksmith shop and a two-story house.
Blacksmith Shop
The workshop, built during the 12th century, included a forge built of bricks and mortar with an internal furnace. The entire workshop floor was covered with a large quantity of slag and charcoal. A piece of hematite believed to have been from the island of Elba was recovered from the excavation, and scholars believe that much of the raw ore may have come from Elba.
At the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th century, the workshop stopped working iron, perhaps because of an urban policy intended to move pollutants out of the center of town. During the 13th century, the smithy was roofed and reconfigured; and the workshop was used for working copper alloy, bronze and lead, evidenced by kiln furniture, crucibles and vitrified and burned clay.
The furnace was shut down in the late 13th or early 14th century, and the building reconfigured into a warehouse.
Archaeology of the Piazza dei Cavalieri Blacksmith Shop
Excavation of the blacksmith shop was conducted by Studio Associato InArcheo, led by G. Gattiglia. Dating of the furnace was accomplished by archaeomagnetic methods.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com Dictionary of Archaeology.
Malfatti J, Principe C, and Gattiglia G. 2011. Archaeomagnetic investigation of a metallurgical furnace in Pisa (Italy). Journal of Cultural Heritage 12(1):1-10.
