The Metallography of Medieval Agricultural and Quotidian Iron Utensils from the Rural Settlement of Zaballa (Basque Country)

Abstract

This paper deals with the metallographic examination of 18 medieval iron objects of economic and domestic character, and is set out as preliminary results of the research project Basquesmith. This project aims to explore the production of iron utensils used by a specific part of the social spectrum: the peasantry. The artefacts, most of which date to the Early Medieval period (8th–10th centuries ad) were excavated at a single rural settlement in the region of the Álava Plain (northern Spain), and correspond to ordinary objects such as nails or scissors, which are under‐represented in archaeometric studies in favour of luxury and exotic items—typically weapons. The metallographic analysis revealed that most of the items are low carbon iron that had been extensively cold worked, whereas composite structures of iron and steel were less frequently present. The iron‐working technologies reconstructed here are discussed in relation to the accessibility of iron by the medieval rural communities, which is recurrently noted as scant by the written sources, as well as being supported by negative evidence in the archaeological record. Finally, a scenario on iron production during medieval times is explored that contradicts the purported paucity of iron within the rural communities.

Medieval clayware as a determiner of the ethnocultural composition of the population

“…Khlebnikova is considered as a promise that arose in the Sylven basin of the Upper Kama region as a result of mixing the traditions of making the Upper Kama Permian population and the former Trans-Ural-Ugric, with a large dominance of the latter. In quantitative terms, it prevails only in the Elabuga settlement materials (more than 60% of the total amount of ceramic material (Khuzin, 2008;Larreina et al, 2018;Rasmussen et al, 2020). There is no more than 10% of the total amount of ceramics (see Table 1).…”

Ironworking technology and social complexity in rural communities in the early medieval Basque Country

“…Preliminary analyses suggest that most of the assemblage was forged from single pieces of low-carbon iron, without heat-treatment. Instead, the tools were cold-forged to enhance their hardness and durability (Larreina-Garcia & Quirós Castillo 2018) (Figure 3). Other tools were composite, typically made by welding steel onto an iron back (Figure 4).…”