The authors wish to acknowledge the Town of Lier, which supplied funding for the fabrication of the thin sections. The micromorphological analysis was made possible by a PhD Fellowship of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) 11E0215N (BW), and the Centre de Recherches en Archéologie et Patrimoine (ULB) (YD). The 14C-dating of archaeological units and the phytolith analysis were funded by the Province of Antwerp/Provincial Archaeological Depot. The identification of chemical elements in metal slag was performed using a μXRF instrument acquired with a grant from the Hercules Foundation (UAB/1309) (with thanks to Karin Nys and Philippe Claeys, Vrije Universiteit Brussel). The authors also wish to thank Anton Ervynck (Agentschap Onroerend Erfgoed), Richard Macphail (University College London), Christina Makarona (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Kristin Ismail-Meyer (IPNA, Basel), Lien Speleers (Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences) and Colin Taylor (University of Aberdeen) for their advice and assistance at various stages of this research, and the three anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback. ; Peer reviewed ; Postprint