The furnaces used to smelt partially refined \b \cf4 \ATXht1012 meta
l\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 from the ore were usually located at the mines themselves or in their vicinity. Many of them were in the shape of a cylinder or truncated cone and they were lined on the inside with refractory materials. Alternate layers of crude ore a
nd charcoal were introduced through an opening at the top. With the fire lit in the lower chamber, the heat rose upward through a horizontal layer pierced by a series of holes. The smelted ore then collected in the lower chamber, where it was cleansed of
slag by opening a hole at the right height. It was necessary to dismantle the furnace in order to remove the solidified product. The metal then went through further processes of refinement.\par