This article describes a programme of experimental reconstruction, involving the building and firing of a series of charcoal-fired assay furnaces, and the findings generated by this activity. The furnace builds drew from designs described and illustrated in nineteenth-century technical manuals for assayers and two sixteenth- century texts: De Re Metallica by Georgius Agricola and A Treatise on Ores and Assaying by Lazarus Ercker. Comparing the resulting “chimeric” structures’ performance generated insights into how such solid-fuel assay furnaces behaved in practice, what roles specific structural elements described in different primary sources played in their overall function, and the fire management skills needed to operate them. Consequently, it was possible to identify how the designs materialised technological choices that prioritised either responsiveness or long-term operation. The experimental reconstructions also led to a reappraisal of the nature and wider relevance of a selection of the primary sources used in the project.

Peter Oakley is Professor of Material Culture in the School of Arts and Humanities at the Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom. His current research interests include the practices of the mining, refining, and assaying of metals as well as the past and present social and environmental consequences of these activities and their associated technologies. Address: Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2EU, United Kingdom. Email: peter.oakley@rca.ac.uk