Tales of the Iron Bloomery

Tales of the Iron Bloomery <UN> The Northern World North Europe and the Baltic c. 400–1700 ad. Peoples, Economics and Cultures Editors Jón Viðar Sigurðsson (Oslo) Ingvild Øye (Bergen) Piotr Gorecki (University of California at Riverside) Steve Murdoch (St. Andrews) Cordelia Heß (Gothenburg) Anne Pedersen (National Museum of Denmark) VOLUME 76 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/nw <UN> Tales of the Iron Bloomery Ironmaking in Southeastern Norway—Foundation of Statehood c. ad 700–1300 By Bernt Rundberget Translated by John Hines LEIDEN | BOSTON <UN> Published with support from The Research Council of Norway Cover illustration: Olaf Tree-cutter clears land in Värmland, after Ynglinge saga; drawn by G. Munthe, 1890. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Rundberget, Bernt, author. Title: Tales of the iron bloomery : ironmaking in southeastern Norway : foundation of statehood, c. AD 700-1300 / by Bernt Rundberget ; translated by John Hines. Other titles: Jernets dunkle dimensjon. English Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2017. | Series: The Northern world, ISSN 1569-1462 ; volume 76 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: lccn 2016043906 (print) | LCCN 2016044643 (ebook) | ISBN 9789004278790 (hardback : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9789004331570 (e-book) | ISBN 9789004331570 (E-book) Subjects: LCSH: Hedmark fylke (Norway)--Antiquities. | Iron-works--Norway--Hedmark fylke--History--To 1500. | Iron--Norway--Hedmark fylke--Metallurgy--History--To 1500. | Excavations (Archaeology)--Norway--Hedmark fylke. | Industrial archaeology--Norway--Hedmark fylke. | Iron age--Norway--Hedmark fylke--History. | Iron--Economic aspects--Norway--History--To 1500. | Iron--Political aspects--Norway--History--To 1500. | Norway--History--To 1030. | Norway--History--1030-1397. Classification: LCC DL576.H4 R8713 2017 (print) | LCC DL576.H4 (ebook) | DDC 669/.141094820902--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016043906 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1569-1462 isbn 978-90-04-27879-0 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-33157-0 (e-book) Copyright 2017 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. <UN> Contents Preface ix List of Figures and Tables xi 1 Introduction 1 Area and Boundaries 3 Chronological Depth 8 The Evidence 10 Topics and Aims 12 Key Issues 14 Outlying Land and Its Use 16 Regions and Technological Boundaries 20 Exploiting the Landscape 23 The Economic Context of Jernvinna—Domestic Activity, Craft or Something More? 29 2 Research Backdrop 42 Status of Research 42 The Introduction of Iron and Jernvinna 44 Methods of Production in Chronological Terms 45 The Slag Tapping Furnace in Europe and Scandinavia 48 Charcoal Burning, Spatially and Temporally 69 Bog Ore and Roasting Places 76 3 Jernvinna in the Gråfjell Area—Conformity in Distinctiveness 80 Introduction 80 Rolf Falck-Muus—A Major Contributor 80 Recent Surveys and Excavations 86 Bloomery Ironmaking in the Gråfjell Area—Form and Facts 88 The Archaeological Investigations 98 The Slag Tapping Furnace of the Gråfjell Area—A Distinct Method 118 Unexcavated Bloomery Sites 129 From Concept to Symmetrical Organization 132 Bloomery Sheds 138 Occupation or Settlement? 142 Rødsmoen and the Gråfjell Area Compared 146 <UN> vi Contents Charcoal Pits—From Statistical Bulk Sample to Organizational Factor 148 Roasting Places—A Factor in a Comprehensive Understanding 161 Organization and Exploitation of Resources 175 4 A Regional Tradition 183 The Source Material 183 South Østerdalen 184 Solør 196 Hedemarken 204 The Delimitation of the Hedmark Tradition 208 5 The Dating of the Hedmark Tradition 216 Introduction 216 The Bayesian Approach 219 The Summing of Radiocarbon Dates 222 Wood Species and the Dating of the Hedmark Tradition 222 Wood Species Determinations 223 Annual Growth Ring Counts and Dendrochronology 227 The Bayesian Approach—Precise Dating of the Period of Use 230 The Gråfjell Area—a Specific Chronology 240 14C Dates at Rødsmoen 242 The Dating of jernvinna in Hedmark 243 6 The Volume of Production from the Hedmark Tradition 249 Calculations of the Volume of Slag Heaps 249 Calculations of Volume of Slag 252 Calculations of Yield 253 The Volume of Charcoal Production 255 The Volume of Iron Production 257 The Consumption of Raw Materials and Yield 266 Volume and Period of Use 269 The Volume of Iron from the Hedmark Tradition 271 The Volume of Production through Time 273 7 The Study Area in the Light of Archaeological and Historical Sources 276 Settlement and Its Development 276 Hunting 292 The Written Sources 296 <UN> Contents vii 8 Tales of the Iron Bloomery 319 The Technological Concept and Coordinated Activity 319 Methods in the Borderland 321 The Hedmark Tradition in Time and Space 336 Specialized Work 342 Proto-industrialized Bloomery Ironmaking—the Unknown Economy of Østerdalen 346 De-industrialization—the Collapse of the Tradition 351 9 The Economic Role of Iron in an Inter-regional Perspective 361 Appendices 368 Appendix Ia: Bloomery sites excavated in the Gråfjell area — data and interpretation 368 Appendix Ib: Excluded bloomery sites, not archaeologically investigated 378 Appendix IIa: 14C-datings and dendrochronological datings from the Gråfjell area 387 Appendix IIb: Excavated and dated bloomery sites of the Hedmark tradition 405 Appendix IIc: Excavated and dated charcoal pits of the Hedmark tradition 414 Appendix III: Calculation of volume and estimation of weight of slag in slag heaps 426 Bibliography 443 Primary Sources 443 Secondary Sources 443 Internet Sources 473 Index 474 <UN> Preface Tales of the Iron Bloomery is a significantly revised and modified version of my Ph.D dissertation ‘Jernets dunkle dimensjon. Jernvinna i sørlige Hedmark sen- tral økonomisk faktor og premiss for samfunnsutvikling c. ad 700–1300’ (2013), facilitated for international readers. The book is a result of many years of research on the jernvinna in the southeastern part of Norway. In 2003, I became engaged in the Gråfjell Project to lead the excavations of the archaeological monuments related to ironmaking. The project originates in the establishment of a new shooting range for the Norwe- gian Armed Forces near Rena. Prior to this, a large-scale archaeological rescue project was carried out. The Gråfjell Project is the largest archaeological project undertaken in the outlying land in Norway, covering an area of almost 200 square kilometres. Archaeological survey of the area identified a large quantity and range of sites and monuments. However, sites related to bloomery ironmaking were in the majority, mainly related to what must have been a highly intensive iron extraction period, c. ad 975–1290. The material gave opportuni- ties for studies on such objects as technology, time, scale, resource utilization, distribution and landscape use. The results as they are presented here would not have been nearly so good without being surrounded by the excellent project group; Kathrine Stene, Tina Amundsen, and David Hill, as well as a dedi- cated field managing staff; Siv Anita Lundø Vikshåland, Hege Damlien, Ragnar Bjørnstad and Per Ditlef Fredriksen As an extension of the excavation project, I was granted three years of fund- ing from the Museum of Cultural History (mch), University of Oslo. The grant has to be seen in the context of the museum’s political strategy to develop Cultural Heritage Management excavations into research projects and new knowledge. I am grateful that the mch gave me this opportunity to continue working with this exceptional material. The aim of the research has been to use the collected archaeological data from the rescue excavation in a broader context. The study area was expanded to cover large parts of Hedmark County as well as the westernmost parts of Värmland, Sweden. In addition, adjoining areas were analyzed for technological comparison. Central in the research was to establish the cause and im- petus for the regionally defined bloomery ironmaking process in Hedmark. Questions about origin and organization lead to the main objective—to use the archaeological material to discuss the importance of iron to the Viking Age and medieval society. <UN> x Preface To this end, I have received a good deal of help, comments, advice and input from a number of colleagues and scholars: Kjetil Skare, Ove Terje Holseng, Ole Risbøl, Jostein Bergstøl, Lil Gustafson, Axel Mjærum, Ingar Gundersen, Birgitta Berglund, Raymond Sauvage, Ragnhild Berge, Lars Stenvik Øystein Vaagan, Ola Klefsås, Tom Haraldsen, Lars Erik Narmo, Arne Espelund, Per Olav Mathisen, Ole Tveiten, Randi Barndon, Gitte Hansen, Per Kristenstuen, Unn Pedersen, Kjetil Loftsgarden, Jón Viðar Sigurðsson and Per Persson. I have received great help with

Load more