Iron production in scandinavian archaeology

Stenvik, Lars F.

doi:10.1080/00293650310000713

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Remains of shaft furnaces with slag pits, like those we described from Sudan and Ethiopia, are numerous in Northern Europe; they are found in Jutland, northern Germany, northern France, East Anglia, Wales, Holy Cross Mountain, Poland and Sweden (Tylecote 1987;1992). We find much the same development in Norway, where the oldest slag-pit furnaces are dated to the 4th century BC (Espelund 1985;Stenvik 2003), while iron technology was much earlier in Sweden (Hjartner-Holdar 1993). These slag-pit furnaces are quite distinct, and Tylecote remarks on their striking similarities with the African ones (Tylecote 1987).…”

Section: Bloomery Iron: An Overviewmentioning

confidence: 53%

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Say it in Iron. Symbols of Transformation and Reproduction in the European Iron Age

Haaland

2021

csa

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The European research on iron has traditionally focused on the technical and economic aspects of iron production, However, a view of metal working in a wider regional context shows that it is generally entrenched in symbolic meaning and ritual activity. In this paper, the author employs four ethnographic case studies to show the importance of symbolic and ritual aspects of iron working and how these are intertwined with technological factors. What comes across are also the metaphorical links between pottery vessels, food, and furnaces used to produce iron. When looking at the European material, one can discern the same associations in the ftnds of cauldrons used for offerings of food as in the finds of cauldrons used for offerings of iron, such as iron weapons. The former are placed in a context ofnurturing and human reproduction, while the latter are placed in a context of destruction. This indicates the ambiguity of iron as associated with nourishment-fertility and with destruction and death

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Section: Bloomery Iron: An Overviewmentioning

confidence: 53%

“…In Norway the slag-tapping furnace was in use from around AD 700, as was the case for Denmark and Sweden (Serning 1976;Voss 1985;Stenvik 2003).…”

Section: Crrrreni Sceedisir Arelraeolognmentioning

confidence: 99%

Say it in Iron. Symbols of Transformation and Reproduction in the European Iron Age

Haaland

2021

csa

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“…Some iron oxides were formed when the carbon content of the iron was reduced, and might have reacted with the lining of the hearth. Subsequently, the wrought iron produced would contain some finery slags, which might have been a little different in composition from the extraction slag [20,21].…”

Section: Ancient Wrought Iron and Forge-welding Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeometallurgical Investigation of Joining Processes of Metal Objects from Shipwrecks: Three Test Cases

Ashkenazi

Cvikel

Stern

et al. 2014

Metallogr. Microstruct. Anal.

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This article presents archaeometallurgical research of three types of metal objects excavated underwater from two shipwrecks in Israel: Tantura F (mid-seventh-end of eighth centuries AD) and Akko 1 (first third of nineteenth century). Both non-destructive and destructive methods were employed. The finds were manufactured by joining processes; therefore, the studies concentrated on metallurgical processes. However, these researches were multidisciplinary, combining typological analyses of the archeological objects, as well as the historical perspective. The first case study is of an iron anchor from the Tantura F shipwreck. This anchor has a typical heterogeneous wrought iron microstructure of ferrite-pearlite-cementite and Widmanstätten plates, manufactured from several blooms made by the direct process. The blooms were joined using forge-welding by an expert blacksmith, resulting in a high-quality iron product. The blooms used in the anchor's circular cross-section shank were forge-welded from iron and steel pieces, producing a composite material with superior mechanical properties. The second case study presents a 12-pdr cannonball from the Akko 1 shipwreck. The cannonball was manufactured from high-quality wrought iron, with a homogenous microstructure of iron matrix and rather large equiaxed a-ferrite grains, produced by an indirect technique, using the hot-forgewelding process. As its production technique pre-dates that of the ship, it is suggested that this cannonball was manufactured in a different place and by a different technology from the other cannonballs found in the shipwreck. It is also possible that the 12-pdr cannonball might have been used as ballast. The third case study deals with brass cases from the Akko 1 shipwreck. The cases were made of brass containing equiaxed a-brass grains with twins, manufactured from rolled sheets that may have originated in Great Britain. The parts were joined by soldering with tin-lead alloy, and it is suggested that the cases were made in an Egyptian workshop.

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“…The emergence of iron production in Arctic Fennoscandia is typically regarded a late phenomenon, much later than elsewhere in central and northern Europe. During the Migration period ( ad 400–500), a first industrial-like large-scale production connected to a Nordic economic and political expansion and colonization is considered to be represented in the southern part of Sweden's widely spread Norrlandic area (in mid-Sweden, Jämtland, and in mid-Norway, Tröndelag) (Magnusson 1987; Stenvik 2003). In the peripheral areas of northernmost Arctic Sweden, the knowledge to make iron and steel is not considered to have begun until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with the establishment of the mining industry (Hansson 1987).…”

Section: Explanatory Framework Of the Emergence Of Iron Technology In...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a Broader Understanding of the Emergence of Iron Technology in Prehistoric Arctic Fennoscandia

Bennerhag¹,

Yamamoto²,

Söderholm³

2022

CAJ

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The article critically examines interpretations of Old World ferrous metallurgical developments with reference to their consequences for Arctic Fennoscandian iron research. The traditional paradigm of technological innovations recurrently links the emergence of iron technology to increasing social complexity and a sedentary agricultural lifestyle, typically downplaying ‘peripheral’ areas such as Arctic Fennoscandia and its hunter-gatherer communities. Even in postcolonial research of recent years, the archaeometallurgical record of Arctic Fennoscandia is interpreted and organized within the traditional frameworks on the time, course, and cultural context of the introduction of iron technology in Europe, where Arctic Fennoscandia is not considered to have any noteworthy role. However, current archaeological research with new data in Arctic Fennoscandia disputes prevailing ideas in European iron research and shows substantial evidence that iron technology was an integrated part of hunter-gatherer subsistence already during the Early Iron Age (c. 200 bc). Archaeometallurgical analyses reveal advanced knowledge in all the operational sequences of iron technology, including bloomery steel production and the mastering of advanced smithing techniques. Therefore, we urge dispensing with traditional ideas and call for an increased interest in the underlying mechanisms for the transfer of iron.

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Iron production in scandinavian archaeology

Cited by 14 publications

References 4 publications

Say it in Iron. Symbols of Transformation and Reproduction in the European Iron Age

Say it in Iron. Symbols of Transformation and Reproduction in the European Iron Age

Archaeometallurgical Investigation of Joining Processes of Metal Objects from Shipwrecks: Three Test Cases

Towards a Broader Understanding of the Emergence of Iron Technology in Prehistoric Arctic Fennoscandia

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