Metallurgical evidence from a late antique context in the Forum of Grumentum

Abstract

This paper is a preliminary report on metallurgical activity detected in the Forum of the ancient city of Grumentum (Basilicata, Italy). In an area next to one of the most important temples of the square a set of hearths belonging to a metallurgical plant was brought to light and investigated, together with a great quantity of metallurgical remains, a tuyère and a fragment of what might be identified as an iron crucible: according to stratigraphic evidence and the preliminary data from the study of pottery sherds, this intense metallurgical activity seems to be dating to the Late antique period. It is not clear yet if it has some relationship with the abandonment of the Forum itself.