Copper Smelting & Bronze Casting at the Great Orme Copper Mines

Рет қаралды 37,924

2 жыл бұрын

The Great Orme Copper mine is one of the most well-known prehistoric mines in Europe. It saw activity from 3900-2900 years ago right through the Bronze Age. At its height, copper from the mine was used to make tools such as axe heads which have been found across western Europe.
Dr. James Dilley demonstrates and talks through the highlights of the copper smelting and bronze casting process to make a type I shield pattern Palstave axe head from the Acton Park phase (when the mines were most active).
Filmed Edited & Produced by Emma Jones of ELWJ Media - www.elwjmedia.co.uk
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To find out more about my flintknapping and experimental archaeology visit my website or follow me on social media!
Website: www.ancientcraft.co.uk/
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Check out the mines here: www.greatormemines.info/

Пікірлер: 61

@ReasonAboveEverything 2 жыл бұрын

I don't think majority of the people can appreciate just hard this process is. You need enough fuel and air. Your air flow isn't strong enough? You will find that out after 20 minutes of laborious work. Not enough fuel? Too bad all your work was in vain. Good air and fuel supply but the metal just doesn't melt? Your furnace design might be flawed. Start again. At this point you might want to make a new crucible as well because you have already used it few times and you don't want it to crack when everything else goes right. Now that you have melted your bronze you better make sure your mold is absolutely dry or else the molten fire will spit everywhere. And when you finally made it despite all the hardships you get to practice pouring the metal so that it fills the mold without sets. Steady now... Darn. It's a failed cast. Try again.

@ancientcraftUK 2 жыл бұрын

Couldn’t have put it better myself!

@tecraman8100 2 жыл бұрын

It's amazing how they never gave up despite all those setbacks! Now that's what I call patience!!!

@johnmellon1820 2 жыл бұрын

Seeing that axe head coming out of the mold is hypnotic. Our ancestors must have looked in amazement at the same thing

@knowbuddy0 2 жыл бұрын

I cant believe these videos dont have 10x the views they have. Amazing work, and the reenactments are so cool

@rekharao699 Ай бұрын

Excellent video to learn about metal smelting.

@omercan71 Жыл бұрын

so the guy who invented the bag ballows must have been a genius

@CFox.7 4 ай бұрын

someone playing with processed livestock stomach

@devcev9509 Ай бұрын

ya I imagine somebody wouldve made the connection between blowing air on a fire and hides blowing up with air when folding up your kit

@jacobsimanek 2 ай бұрын

Damn the depth of research required to get a dialogue that nuanced and punchy is so impressive. Even more incredible that so much wasnt explicitly recorded; this makes period accurate recreations essential capstones to this research. Aside from testing hypotheses, demos like this bring the information to life, fostering public awareness and appreciation of the topic. Dirty hands and clean editing, big ups to you and your team.

@ancientcraftUK 2 ай бұрын

Thanks Jacob! It’s just my partner and I who make the videos, but we very much put quality over quantity. It’s not the way YT wants channels to work, but it’s our way.

@davidevans3227 2 ай бұрын

lovely looking wooden bucket

@HASHHASSIN Жыл бұрын

I was ready to trolling for "prehistoric" methods because %99,99 times they use modern things and call it "ancient" methods. Thank you for NO clickbait!

@welshwoodbushcraft 2 жыл бұрын

Really looking forward to this, gutted couldn't come at last minute due to Covid, but hope volunteer who took my place had a great time! Catch you next time Pete Wood

@captaincatbeard9565 2 жыл бұрын

It was an excellent day. I hope my incessant questions weren't too annoying. Hope to see you again soon.

@davidevans3227 2 ай бұрын

oh my god.. this is wonderful! thankyou 🙂

@vernerijussi Жыл бұрын

Excellent video! I noticed two repeats of the same sentence in the narration.

@janetmackinnon3411 Жыл бұрын

I can only be amazed at the time and inventiveness which resulted in this process. Thank you, Dr .Dilley and team

@mistermysteryman107 2 жыл бұрын

I confess. Ever since I saw this man in an English heritage video knapping an axe, I have intermittently sought him out on KZfaq to see what he’s up to.

@kellymurphy7444 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! Can't wait for the next one, we've really been enjoying your videos, we are making our way though all the others 😊😊

@Artisan_crafts 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent video, keep up the good work.

@stihl888 2 жыл бұрын

Quality video and content as usual James, well done

@peterschmidt6360 2 жыл бұрын

Great video, I took a look at your channel and instantly subscribed! Looking forward to the next videos!

@NikkianaJones 2 жыл бұрын

Wow!

@davidmorningstar 2 жыл бұрын

Fantastic work!

@ancientcraftUK 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks David!

@hanspeterschnitzel Жыл бұрын

I wish I could like this twice. Very good video!

@ancientcraftUK Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@canadiangemstones7636 Жыл бұрын

Amazing.

@StuartWoolger 2 жыл бұрын

Great channel and an excellent video, really looking forward to getting my replica Palstave from you.

@ancientcraftUK 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Stuart! Your Palstave was packed this afternoon and will be in the post and with you soon!

@StuartWoolger 2 жыл бұрын

Many thanks@@ancientcraftUK

@crow1066 2 жыл бұрын

Love the attention about the tongs. Of the crucible, do they not ever have a spout even if its crude? And I suppose something organic could be used to bind the mould. Bone spacers/wedges to keep the fiber chord binding from direct contact with the hot mould?

@dan_the_dj 3 ай бұрын

Cn I ask about the exact recipe for clay used here? Id like to have a go at bronze casting with ancient methods, but I dont know the first thing about making vessels capable of withstanding such temperatures...

@wildshadowmatic1571 2 жыл бұрын

Good work james thanks for you and your teams hard work😊 could we get a follow up to see how well the axe works?🙃🙃

@ancientcraftUK 2 жыл бұрын

Of course! #Knaptime will be next then probably tool use

@davidevans3227 2 ай бұрын

lol nap time 🙂 😉

@sjoerdweterings8314 Жыл бұрын

Me and my son will try to melt copper and tin to produce bronze and cast an axe. However, i wondered if you could tell me what you use as a material for the moulds.

@liamredmill9134 Жыл бұрын

I don't know about charcoal,but using oak to smelt metal achieves a higher temperature than other woods,also it is possible ancient people used pitch and coal

@Twobirdsbreakingfree Жыл бұрын

What are the bag bellows made of and how are they connected to the forge?

@davidevans3227 2 ай бұрын

does it look like a sort of channel running from the bellows to the fire? but covered over with a run of dirt?

@bennjamieson1626 Жыл бұрын

How much wood was needed to cast the axe head? I read in A Forest Journey that the Forest of Dean was pretty much stripped bare for iron smelting, and Cyprus experienced the same in the bronze age.

@matitossavainen2031 2 жыл бұрын

Did you Make your crucible or did you use modern one

@CFox.7 4 ай бұрын

I want to know the discovery process they went through. Who first fired rocks ? etc

@davidevans3227 2 ай бұрын

discovering the ore...?

@ianbruce6515 Жыл бұрын

That was very interesting! Well made piece! Could you clear something up for me? I saw a reference to the palstave axe being actually a digging tool, and that since it was first described as an axe, it retained that name. Do you know if this is true-- that they were digging tools? If so, it seems likely that most of the hafted replicas have not been correctly hafted, as if it was a digging tool-- it should be hafted with the blade rotated 90 degrees, like a hoe or adze.

@ancientcraftUK Жыл бұрын

Hi Ian, the name “palstave” came from a Danish name for a prehistoric tool a “palstuber” (or similar), which is a digging tool. Palstave axes/adzes were most certainly woodworking tools and are very effective in this field

@ianbruce6515 Жыл бұрын

@@ancientcraftUK Thank you, so much for the informative reply!

@Sheepdog1314 2 жыл бұрын

excellent. Thank you so much. I have bronze pieces , but it is not TIN bronze

@tecraman8100 2 жыл бұрын

Aluminum?

@LuxisAlukard 2 жыл бұрын

"Hi, I'm James, I'm into rock and metal." "Really? Are you singer, guitarist, drummer?" "No, I'm flint knapper and bronze caster." Yes, it's not good joke, but I had to make it =)

@ancientcraftUK 2 жыл бұрын

You should read the “about me” section on the website!

@LuxisAlukard 2 жыл бұрын

@@ancientcraftUK I should do that before, maybe I wouldn't emberrass myself with bad jokes =D

@MakoRuu 2 жыл бұрын

I do love me some nap time.

@stumccabe 2 жыл бұрын

They certainly wouldn't have used soft iron binding wire to hold their mounds together (sorry for being pedantic). Has anyone considered that they might have used carved steatite (soapstone) mounds? Soapstone is very easy to carve and will withstand many repeat castings with very little deterioration; I have used it myself for casting silver (similar melting point to bronze). I have no idea of the availability of soapstone in Britain during the Bronze Age, but if it was easily found they would have been aware of it I guess.

@ancientcraftUK 2 жыл бұрын

You’re right they wouldn’t have used iron wire, but I used copper wire in the vid and on moulds in general. Soapstone was used, but doesn’t occur is good enough quality over a wide area, which appears to have restricted its wider use

@angelaracovita4526 Ай бұрын

Really ? Thouse ppl built the piramides and ...this is all we know so far?

@thomasdykstra100 Жыл бұрын

No offense intended, but your narrative could bear a bit closer review to edit out redundant phrasing. Good overall video quality requires the audio to be comparable...