text: Smelting or the reduction of an ore to its metallic state is the primary source of experimentation in archaeometallurgy.  In its simplest form smelting can be accomplished by placing an ore sample between two pieces of combusting charcoal in an oxygen reducing atmosphere with a compressed air source to feed the combustion and result in temperatures high enough to smelt metal.  But to reach this final metallic state several things need to be done first including the processing of the ore to remove waste or gangue material, the possible roasting of the ore, the smelting of the ore, and then there is the possibility of refining the metal through a series of remelts. Then, through chemical or microscopic analysis, the products of the smelt are analyzed and compared with the findings of archaeological excavation in order to examine the likelihood of various manufacturing processes.