The research focuses on assessing the metal content, mainly copper, lead, iron and also silver in metallurgical slag samples from the area

where historical metallurgical industry functioned. In the smelter located in Mogiła, near Krakow (southern Poland), whose operation is

confirmed in sources from 1469, copper was probably refined as well as silver was separated from copper. Based on the change of

chemical and soil phase content and also taking cartographic and historical data into account, considering the restrictions resulting from

the modern land use the area was determined whose geochemical mapping can point to the location of the 15th century Jan Thurzo’s

smelter in Mogiła near Krakow. Moreover, using the same approach with the samples of this kind here as with hazardous waste, an

attempt has been made to assess their impact on the environment. Thereby, taking the geoenvironmental conditions into account, potential

impact of the industrial activity has been assessed, which probably left large scale changes in the substratum, manifested in the structure,

chemical content and soil phase changes. Discovering areas which are contaminated above the standard value can help to identify

historical human activities, and finding the context in artefacts allows to treat geochemical anomalies as a geochronological marker. For

this purpose the best are bed sediments, at present buried in the ground, of historical ditches draining the area of the supposed smelter.

Correlating their qualities with analogical research of archeologically identified slags and other waste material allows for reconstructing

the anthropopressure stages and the evaluation of their effects. The operation of Jan Thurzo’s smelter is significant for the history of

mining and metallurgy of Poland and Central and Eastern Europe.

Assessing the level of metallurgical and foundry technology in prehistoric times requires the examination of raw material finds, including elongated ingots, which served as semi-finished products ready for further processing. It is rare to find such raw material directly at production settlements, but Wicina in western Poland is an exception. During the Hallstatt period (800-450 BC), this area, situated along the middle Oder River, benefited from its favorable location in the heart of the Central European Urnfield cultures and developed networks for raw material exchange and bronze foundry production. Numerous remnants of casting activities, such as clay casting molds, casting systems, and raw materials, have been discovered at the Wicina settlement. This article aims to provide an archaeometallurgical interpretation of raw material management and utilization by prehistoric communities during the Early Iron Age. To achieve this, a collection of 31 ingots from the defensive settlement in Wicina, along with two contemporary deposits from Bieszków and Kumiałtowice, both found within a 20 km radius of the stronghold, were studied. Investigations were conducted using a range of methods, including optical microscopy(OM), scanning electron microscopy (SE M), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SE M-EDS), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (ED-XRF), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), AAS and ICP-OES spectrometer. The significance of ingots is examined in the context of increasing social complexity and the rising popularity of bronze products, which necessitated diversified production and a demand for raw materials with different properties and, consequently, different chemical compositions.