Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2007, Page 55

Ancient ironmaking in Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland
Figure 3. The shore at L’Anse aux Meadows with reconstructed buildings. Photo by the author.
of ironmaking in this isolated community
was raised because of small finds of slag,
rivets, remains of hearths, roasted ore, a
charcoal kiln etc. The settlers were Green-
landers or Icelanders and came from
Greenland by ship, probably the kind of
cargo ship named knarr, or by a Viking
ship of the Gogstad type (Keller 2001).
Such boats were made of planks that
probably were riveted. The rivets had to
be made of mild steel with a low content
of phosphorus, because this element cre-
ates cold shortness (Espelund 2000). Dur-
ing the passage from Greenland among
icebergs, a trip that might take some 12
days, rivets with some phosphorus were
prone to break. Also rust was a problem.
Fishing hooks must have been another
important object of iron. Therefore the
settlers were in great need of iron, that
could be forged into rivets and/or hooks.
The raw materials bog iron ore and wood
were available at or near the site. For a
metallurgist it is particularly interesting
to find out if the settlers mastered the
technique of ironmaking, the quality of
the metal produced, and how much iron
was obtained.
A generally accepted picture of
the settlement is required before ironmak-
ing will be addressed. The subsistence of
the settlers was based upon hunting and
fishing. No farming took place at or near
L’Anse aux Meadows. Nor did the immi-
grants bring any livestock. Weeds charac-
teristic of Europe were always brought to
new lands through the dung of domestic
animals when farming was introduced.
No graves have been found. There was
no church or other building representing
worship at the site, despite the fact that
it was a settlement in the beginning of
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