High-temperature slag formation in historic Scottish mortars: evidence for production dynamics in 18th–19th century lime production from Charlestown

This paper describes preliminary investigations into the geochemistry of some of the minerals within slag particles and derives some information on temperatures of formation, suggesting that the limekilns at Charlestown were operating at a high temperature relative to estimates given for traditional limekilns. This study is itself an initial assessment of the mineralogy of these slags and it appears that there are a large number of chemistries within single grains, suggesting a very complex environment of formation.