Traded raw steel: The roman masses from the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer Wrecks

The metallographic analyses of four steel masses from the SM42 and SM43 wrecks in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, France, confirm that they are raw products that were traded in the Mediterranean area in the same way as semifinished products or amphorae. The masses were roughly hammered and cut to facilitate cleaning and compacting and are made of highly carburised steel. These masses from wrecks SM42 and SM43 are the only fully carburised materials found in all 45 iron-carrying wrecks from antiquity discovered at this location. This suggests that steel was traded in the Roman Empire in the form of roughly hammered raw materials obtained by cutting large blooms into smaller parts.