Talk:Noric steel

According to Dr. Brigitte Cech, Austrian archaeologist, Romans never excavated iron ore from Erzberg mountain, Styria. This source of raw material became important only from Middle Ages onwards. (Gottfried Wernig, A-9341 Strassburg)

Gottfried is right. Erzberg ore is not Noricum. It is purer in iron, also less concentrated. The point about Noricum ore from Knappenberg/Huettenberg, and other small mines in the area, is that it has natural work-hardening alloying elements in it. It is also more highly concentrated in iron % than Erzberg ore. A visit to the museum at Knappenberg is well worthwhile (I was there yesterday!) Frankly it is better informed about local iron-making than the Technische Museum Wien. It's possible that other mines around Friesach have similar properties. Friesach is considerably easier to access, as a trading and administration centre. Incidentally, I asked if Turrach iron claimed to be Noricum (I was there last week). The answer is no. Turrach can claim the first Bessemer converter in Austria.

Also- quarrying is done on the surface. This is partly true at Erzberg, certainly in modern times. But it is not true at Knappenberg/Huettenberg because the extraction is underground i.e. mining.

This article needs some references. The main article on 'Noricum' is better detailed and referenced. My sources, apart from the museums, include 'Eisenbahnen am Kärntner Erzberg: Bilder von den Förderbahnen, Bergbauen, und Bergleuten am Hüttenberger Erzberg (Archiv für vaterländische Geschichte und Topographie) (German Edition) Hohn, Manfred'

(Andrew Starr A9020 Klagenfurt)

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.119.16.124 (talk) 06:02, 20 September 2017 (UTC)