How did the Vikings get iron?

How did the Vikings get iron?

Hurstwic: Iron Production in the Viking Age. Although Norse people knew of mining and mined some iron ore in a variety of locations throughout Scandinavia, most Viking era iron was smelted from bog iron. Where streams run from nearby mountains through a peat bog, bog iron can almost always be found.

How is bog iron collected?

When a layer of peat in the bog is cut and pulled back using turf knives (right), pea sized nodules of bog iron can be found and harvested. Although the iron nodules are reasonably pure, there aren’t many of them. They are, however, a renewable resource. About once each generation, the same bog can be re-harvested.

How can you tell if a bog is iron rich?

But more importantly, anaerobic bacteria (Gallionellaand Leptothrix) growing under the surface of the bog concentrate the iron as part of their life processes. Their presence can be detected on the surface by the iridescent oily film they leave on the water (left), another sure sign of bog iron.

Where did the iron in a bog come from?

It occurs in glaciated regions throughout the world, and so would have been very familiar to the Norse explorers at Vínland. Streams carry dissolved iron from nearby mountains. In the bog, the iron is concentrated by two processes. The bog environment is acidic, with a low concentration of dissolved oxygen.

Is bog iron renewable or nonrenewable?

Bog iron is a renewable resource; the same bog can be harvested about once each generation. Europeans developed iron smelting from bog iron during the Pre-Roman Iron Age of the 5th/4th–1st centuries BCE, and most iron of the Viking era (late first millennium CE) came from bog iron.

Why is bog iron a good sorbent material?

Bog iron, like other hydrous iron oxides, has a specific affinity for heavy metals. This affinity combined with the porous structure and high specific surface area of bog iron make it a good natural sorbent.