West Viking - IRON Smelting
Westward Vikings - and IRON
As Scandinavians moved west from their homelands in Norway, into northern Scotland and Ireland, the settling of Iceland, and eventually to far off Vinland, they carried their tradition of iron smelting with them. At the most basic, these were free standing, ‘short shaft’, slag tapping, furnaces. Although bog iron ore would remain the standard, other locally available materials would require modifying construction methods. Archaeology can only provide us with the merest outlines of how these changing furnace designs might have been laid out. Details on how they might practically function remains the providence of Experiment. This Powerpoint presentation will take a look at variations in furnace construction from Norway, Iceland, and Canada, and working experimental bloomeries based on these historic prototypes.
Darrell Markewitz is a professional artisan blacksmith based in Ontario, Canada, who specializes in the Viking Age. He created the ‘Norse Encampment’ living history program for Parks Canada at L’Anse aux Meadows NHSC, the site of the first known iron smelting in North America (circa 1000 AD). Since 2001, he has undertaken an extensive series of experimental iron smelts, testing aspects of historic Northern European furnaces. This work has included participation in projects in Scotland, Poland, Denmark, the USA, and Canada; from practical demonstrations, museum re-creations, conference presentations and academic papers.