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Iron and the Transformation of Society Reflexion of Viking Age Metallurgy 89 90 Iron and the Transformation of Society Reflexion of Viking Age Metallurgy Iron and the Transformation of Society Reflexion of Viking Age Metallurgy 89 90 Iron and the Transformation of Society Reflexion of Viking Age Metallurgy Editors Catarina Karlsson and Gert Magnusson JERNKONTORETS BERGSHISTORISKA SKRIFTSERIE 51 91 NORDIC PERIODS EUROPEAN PERIODS Historic events Sites mentioned in the volume Raids and battles Rulers and kingdoms ca 310 AD Christianity starts to dominate 100 BC–1000 AD Uppåkra 793 AD Viking raid on Lindisfarne 800 AD Crowning of Charlemagne 380 AD Christianity official religion in the Roman Empire 200–1050 AD Helgö 845 AD Viking siege of Paris 886 AD Alfred the Great, king of the Anglo-Saxons 395 AD Division of the Roman Empire, W & E 550–650 AD The Uppsala Mounds 860 AD Viking siege of Constantinople 936 AD Otto I, king of Saxony 476 AD Fall of Rome ca 750–975 AD Birka 865–878 Great Heathen Army 958 AD Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark 536, 540, 547 BC Little Antique Ice Age, LALIA ca 750–ca 900 AD Staraja Ladoga 862–884 Viking raids in the Rhineland 986 AD King Svein Forkbeard king of Denmark 541–542 BC Justinian plague ca 750 AD Salme boat burials 862 AD Viking raid on Cologne (Norway and England) 681 AD Bulgaria first Slavic Country ca 770–1066 AD Hedeby, Haithabu 881 AD Viking raid on Aachen ca 995 AD Olof Skötkonung, king of Svithiod, strikes coins in Sigtuna, Rex Situne, Rex Svevorum 711 AD Founding of Al-Andalus ca 780 –900 AD Kaupang 885–886 Viking siege of Paris 995 AD Olaf Tryggvason, king of Norway 804 AD Duchy of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire 650–800 AD Grobina (period of 907 AD Rus' prince Oleg's attack on Constantinople 1008 AD Olof Skötkonung second baptismal at Husaby källa 829 AD Ansgar’s first arrival in Birka Scandinavian presence) (and following trade treaty) 1015 AD Olof II Haraldson (St. Olof ), king of Norway 834 AD Ship burial Oseberg 941 AD Rus' prince Igor's attack on Constantinople 1019 AD Swedish princess Ingegerd married to Jaroslav, 880 AD Wulfstan’s travel account (mentioning the towns of 943 AD Rus' raid on Bardha'a prince of Kiev Hedeby and Truso) 969 AD Khazarian capital Itil falls to the Rus' 1130 AD Roger II, the Norman Kingdom of Sicily 911 AD Rus’ - Byzantine trade treaty 984 AD Battle of Fýrisvellir 1035 AD Death of Cnut the Great, king of England, 1014 AD Diocese of Skara (first bishop) 1000 AD Battle of Svolder Denmark and Norway 1159 AD Lübeck recieved its charter from Henry the Lion 1016 AD Cnut the Great's invasion of England 1161 AD Merchants of Visby - Henry the Lion trade treaty 1030 AD Battle of Stiklestad 1192 AD Teutonic Order is founded 1066 AD Norman conquest, Battle of Stamford Bridge & Battle of Hastings 92 Preface For more than 2 500 years iron and steel have shaped our society. The production and con- sumption of iron and steel have been – and still are – a central factor configuring and also marking changes in our society. One of the most interesting and formative periods of Sweden’s history is that of the rapid emergence of Bergslagen – the tradition-rich mining and metallurgical district – where the blast furnace was developed, possibly as early as the 10th century. Forming a far-reaching system that grew explosively during the 12th and 13th centuries, the new technology enabled metals to be extracted from the ores in a new way and on a much larger scale. It was in Bergslagen, a thinly populated hinterland, that the base for Sweden’s later economic development was laid. The knowledge of metalworking, however, was alive already in Viking Age society. The discovery in the 1970’s of the medieval blast furnace of Lapphyttan in Bergslagen, and the subsequent archaeological excavation, led to new knowledge and increased in- terest in medieval ironmaking in Sweden. When later on, a blast furnace, unknown un- til then, was discovered on the western shores of Lake Vättern, this led to the establish- ment of the Hyttehamn Project (Hyttehamnsprojektet). Subsequently, this was to grow into the multidisciplinary project called ”Iron and the Making of the Realm in Sweden, 1150–1350” (Järnet och riksbildningen 1150-1350.) Here the intention was to study mining and metallurgy in relation to the social development that took place during the Early Middle Ages. Some of the foremost researchers, with the most relevant knowledge within this field, took part in the project. It was in 2015 that the results were then published, in the form of a book ”Järnet och Sveriges medeltida modernisering” (Iron and Sweden’s modernisation in the Middle Ages) edited by Bengt Berglund and in two doctoral the- ses ”Norberg och Järnet” (Norberg and the Iron) 2012 and ”Förlorat järn – det medel- tida jordbrukets behov och förbrukning av järn och stål (Lost Iron - requirement and consumption of iron and steel in agriculture in mediveal Sweden) in 2015. The research results provided new insights into the emergence of Sweden’s earliest organised mining and metalworking activities that could now be dated as far back as the 10th century as well as into the establishment of the blast furnace process, likely to have been by the 12th century at the latest. The blast furnace was probably a Swedish innovation. That it was invented in Swe- den was likely due to the fact that in the districts around Norberg and Falun there was considerable know-how connected with iron and copper production. At the same time, in this area the iron ore was unusually free from phosphorus which made it ide- ally suited to the blast furnace process, a precondition enabling the transformation of the pig iron obtained into an easily forgeable iron with good properties. The intensive discussions within the project posed questions on the background to the iron industry’s development in the Early Middle Ages and what the results were of 93 more recent archaeological investigations into the production of iron in the Viking era. The Viking Age was a dynamic period, when Scandinavia steps forth upon the glo- bal stage in a way that was without precedent in previous history. The Norse people were active from Baghdad to Iceland, to Greenland and as far away as North America. They appeared as merchants and traders, as pirates but also, and to a very great extent, as builders of states based on their access to iron and copper. Within this project, a database was prepared relating to slag deposits from the early bloomery ironmaking that took place on a large scale before the arrival of the blast fur- nace. This database made it possible to estimate how much iron was produced through bloomery ironmaking. When linked to the investigations and calculations concerning iron consumption that were also carried out within the project, it was soon evident that in the territory we now know as Sweden, during this period, much more iron was produced than could, in all probability, ever be consumed. An extensive production and also export of bloomery iron also occurred during the Viking period. Here, too, new questions arose concerning how this export took place and its effects on the emer- gence of what gradually became Sweden. Jernkontoret, founded in 1747, and the association for Sweden’s metallurgical industry, has been and still continues to be an important stakeholder, working for the advancement of steel research and production. Moreover, Jernkontoret has played a vital role in enabling research into the history of mining and metallurgy. This has been carried out by Jernkontoret’s Historical Metallurgy Group since 1967. Archaeological, historical, technical, economic and social factors have been investigated and the results have been reported e.g. in papers published in Jernkontoret’s publication and report series. From the start, the accent has been on multidisciplinary collaboration between archaeologists, economic historians, historians and art historians, among others. But there has also been collaboration between different research institutes, national and international. This has enabled timely discussions and the transmission of knowledge in this field to be carried out. The research has been based on archaeological investiga- tions, archival research and written sources and a new picture of Sweden’s former iron and steel industry has now emerged. The Hyttehamn project itself was partly funded by Jernkontoret while the multidisciplinary project ”Iron and the Making of the Realm in Sweden, 1150–1350” was one of its major projects. The project was concluded with an international conference in 2016 under the title ”Iron and society before 1350”. It was here that several researchers presented their recent work on iron and steel produc- tion and trading during the Viking era. This, in turn, led to the work on the preparation of the present publication. Following the conference mentioned, a research group was formed with the aut- hors Gert Magnusson, Thomas Lindkvist, Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, Torun Zachrisson and Daniel Sahlén and project participants Orvar Nyquist and Catarina Karlsson. These contributors undertook to describe different aspects of the metal indu- stry of the Viking period. For a period of three years the project has been under way, 94 characterised by a long-running scientific discussion based on the manuscripts of the respective authors. The following have also contributed to this project: Kerstin Fernhe- den, Kenneth Sundh and Lena Berg Nilsson. To set aside adequate time for a scientific discussion between experienced researchers, familiar with the material, is something appreciated by all project participants. It has led to stimulating and instructing debates and also opened up new scientific paths. This project has been made possible due to generous financial contributions from a series of donors: Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation, Torsten Söderberg Foundation, Sancte Örjens Gille, Allan Wetterholm Foundation and the Prytziska Foundation (fonden nr 1).
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