THE ANCIENT MINE OF SERVETTE (SAINT‐MARCEL,VAL D’AOSTA,WESTERN ITALIAN ALPS): A MINERALOGICAL,METALLURGICAL AND CHARCOAL ANALYSIS OF FURNACE SLAGS*

The Cu–Fe mining district of Servette is located in the valley of Saint‐Marcel (Val d’Aosta) at about 1800 m a.s.l. in the western Italian Alps. A large furnace slag deposit occurs near the Servette mine. Slags are mainly constituted by silicate and oxide in a glassy matrix, with disseminated sulphides and iron–copper alloys, and they record temperatures of 1380–1100°C. Radiocarbon dating of slag charcoals has shown that metallurgy in this site took place around ad 890–980. The charcoal analysis has shown that coniferous wood was mainly utilized, and intensive exploitation over the centuries led to a change in the composition of the local woods.