Abstract
During the excavation of a block of the Roman small town of Rauranum (Rom, Deux-Sevres, France) a smithy dating from the 2nd century AD was discovered. The structures (anvil and hearth) were found totally destroyed and the inner organization of the workshop could not be understood at first glance. So, it was decided to map the density of hammerscales using sediment magnetic susceptibility measurement. Sediment was taken from the workshop layer in each of the 0.5 m large squares of a grid. After the withdrawal of the charcoal, a small part of each sample was used for magnetic susceptibility study. The results show that water sieving used for removing the charcoal from the sediment did not adversely impact the magnetic susceptibility measurement. Two areas of high magnetic susceptibility were evidenced. The organisation of the workshop inferred from the magnetic susceptibility map is the same as that of another smithy dating from the 4th century AD unearthed in the same building. The main result of the anthracological study is that oak was almost exclusively used for heating the metal. It can be linked either with a habit or with a management of areas wooded with oak trees.