They even found evidence of bog iron smelting at Ainse en Meadows. IIRC they also found some bog iron there which had been buried to leech out impurities in the soil, which is a known technique.

The proliferation of better quality iron became much more widespread after the millenium as more efficient water and wind mills became widely disseminated.

The Norse, particularly the Swedes, had a major trade route from central asia across Russia, from which they could (and did) aquire good quality iron and even crucible steel. They also of course traded with the Franks, the Spanish Moors, and the Byzantines among others. The Vikings were at least as good at trading as at raiding and invasions.

Iron armor was the norm until quite late, but that doesn't make it ineffective. In some respects tempered steel armor isn't as good, it's harder but not necessarily as resiliant. IIRC conquistadors in the New World found that iron mail was more effective against arrows than tempered steel mail due to being less brittle.

And getting back to the analysis of swords, again, only the smallest samples have been really examined, and really no effort has been made to make the tiny number of samples they do test representative of some kind of average or of most common types... the parameters for something like that have never even been identified.

So it's kind of like some future archeologist examining a Yugo and a 2CV and deciding that European cars of the 20th century were flimsy, slow and poorly made...




Speaking of The Knight and the Blast Furnace, does anyone know if there is anywhere you can find a copy of this book for less than $350? I've been wanting to read it for a long time but I haven't won the lottery yet.

J

Well, in the discussion after the lecture Dr. Alan Williams said that in high and late middle ages swords with low carbon content or low hardness were usually very plain and simple, and almost all decorated or better made items were harder and "more useful".

So I would say it was not such "hit or miss" affair, but I suppose good material costed more, and maybe information about how to make steel was not really widely known (or the process was too complicated for local smiths) - so good blades were made only in large centres.

But on the other hand, most of the knives and shears from "Knives and Scabbards" Museum of London book show very good steel forge-welded edges, and heat treated properly. And those knives aren't very fancy items, just ordinary utility knives. But some are made just from simple wrought iron with very low carbon content and without any heat treatment (not that it would make any difference).

I really need to get hold of "The Knight and the Blast Furnace"...

In order to get an experts opinion, I sent an e-mail to a professor of this time period at the university of Oslo asking him about swords. I got an automated reply that he wont be back until monday the 15th. Hopefully he can provide us with some useful insights.

I know this is off-topic (sorry).

Many swords have been found in Scandinavia, however the only Viking helmet I know about is the one excavated at Gjermundbu (there may be more). Does this mean that helmets were scarce among Vikings?

This is a subject I have wondered long about. It's interesting that armour was buried in the Vendel period, but so little found in the Viking Age. If they weren't buried, where would they all go? You'd think some would have survived.

Elling Polden wrote:

Antonio Lamadrid wrote: I know this is off-topic (sorry). Many swords have been found in Scandinavia, however the only Viking helmet I know about is the one excavated at Gjermundbu (there may be more). Does this mean that helmets were scarce among Vikings? Gjermundbu (the farm) had two burrial mounds, which yielded the only helmet and the two mail coats found in Norway. This sugests that at this spesific place they burried people with armour, while everywhere else they did not. In my mind the most plausable theory is that one for religious and traditional reasons didn't burry people with armour. (You don't need armour when you are an Einherjar)

It was used until it rusted appart?
Remeber that pointed helmets and mail where in use all the way from the migration period to the 13th century and beoynd.
The helmets and armour conserved form the middle ages are stuff that was stashed away for a rainy day or kept as decorations.
I've talked to people that said their grandparents used to scrub pans with small patches of riveted mail...