| Project Detail |
Tracing iron production in Viking Iceland
Iron was mass-produced and traded between Norse settlements during the Viking Age, significantly contributing to the Viking expansion. Historians believed Viking iron was produced in Norway and Sweden, but recent evidence shows intensive production in Iceland exceeding local needs. Supported by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme, the VIPICE project aims to investigate the origin of Viking iron artefacts and the dynamics of the iron movement during the Viking Age in the North Atlantic region. The project combines strontium (Sr), iron (Fe), hafnium (Hf), and neodymium (Nd) isotopes and trace element analyses of Icelandic iron production in the network of Viking iron circulation. It aims to create a multi-tracer object-source matching map and understand the Viking diaspora and the possibility of a Norse iron industry.
Iron was a strategic resource in ancient societies and is still of great importance today. This metal was notably mass produced during the Viking age and traded over long distances between the different Norse settlements. This project aims to investigate the provenance of Viking iron artefacts and to develop a new model of the dynamics of iron movement in the North Atlantic region during the Viking age. In Norse society, iron was used to produce everyday tools, as well as weapons and boat rivets. This metal is thus intrinsically linked to the formidable Viking expansion. The numerous remains of iron production in the Scandinavian homelands led most historians to consider that Viking iron was almost exclusively produced in Norway and Sweden. However, this hypothesis fails to explain the growing number of archaeological evidence attesting to intensive iron production in Iceland, exceeding the local needs. To investigate the fate of this Icelandic iron production in the network of Viking iron circulation, we propose a novel multi-proxy tracing approach. Combined Sr, Fe, Hf, and Nd isotopes, and trace element analyses will be performed on metallurgical remains from iron smelting sites (i.e. technological sources) and archaeological artefacts. We will determine a specific multi-isotopic and elemental signature for each region of iron production, against which the composition of the objects will be compared. Strontium isotopes are highly likely to fingerprint iron from Iceland because of its geological singularity. To complement this, Hf, Nd, Fe isotopes, and trace elements will be used to refine source distinctions. These results will be compiled to produce a multi-tracer object-source matching map and propose new iron flows patterns during the Viking age. Finally, this model will be used to address the question of a possible spatially specialised Norse iron industry and improve our understanding of the Viking diaspora that first connected Europe to North America. |
