On bronzing iron objects – archaeological evidence of weight-manufacture in Viking Age Scandinavia?

Authors

• Anders Söderberg
• Lena Holmquist Olausson

Abstract

The clay packings called Schmelzkugeln (Melt Bowls) have earlier been found in Haithabu, Schleswig. Since two large finds of melt bowls recently have been found at Birka and in Sigtuna, Sweden, a deeper study of the fragments has been made, mostly on an experimental hasis. The study shows that they could descend from a bronze-plating process, as the reducing athmosphere inside the clay shell provides an exellent method in bronzing iron objects. As a result a hypothetical connection is made between the bowls and the Viking Age bronze-coated weights.