In 'The Viking' (Tre Tryckare), the laws that shaped the creation and occupation of Birka are discussed. Apparently Birka was an ideal place for the King of the time to set up a trading town. Unlike other trading towns that naturally evolved in places of transport intersection and rich agriculture, Birka was founded intentionally. Why? Because the King wanted to control trade and get richer. To do this he needed to make adjustments to the laws around recompense for murder and manslaughter. The role of a Viking Age king was less prescriptive than a modern day SCA king or even a leader of a modern country. The law was largely oral tradition with habit driving people's adherence. A king could not simply change law and tell people. How would he tell enough people quickly enough to ensure uniform change and compliance? Thus Birka was selected.
Birka was small with a manageable population of 300. It was also positioned in geographical isolation and organisational haziness. It sat between 3 things (local law courts), on the border of 2 districts (the parts within a province) and very near the edge of the North and South provinces. Laws were tricky to apply and people may have been vague about which applied when. So the king got away with changing a couple of laws.
Bjorkoaratt, the law of Birka, changed things so it was no longer cheap or free to kill a stranger. It gave visiting merchants similar rights of safety to locals, thus making Birka a popular destination.
What did he get out of it? New rule number 2 said that the King and his men got three days of exclusive trade on all new goods. He got rich.
Monday, 29 October 2012
Daylight
The power went out all across town 6 hours ago. It was funny, because the school bells wouldn't ring and I couldn't finish my programming on the computer. It was mildly annoying because I had no food in the house after moving last week (1 apple was found in the car) and the shops were all shut so I couldn't buy anything. I wasted the last hour of daylight driving to the next town to buy candles and the last lighter in all of existence. Then I suddenly felt very stupid - this was way harder than if I was in our 10th C camp because I was unprepared for it.
The biggest concept rattling around in my head this evening, as I sit here in the dark with 2 candles dangerously close to my hair is how important sunlight is. My 10th C smith worked set hours. He was not a shift worker. There was no option for working back late to finish a project. Sun up on a reasonably clear day when there was sufficient material in the workshop = work time. I'm going to try using that principle.
Maybe working only in day time will limit the number of manic hours I spend crouched overa tiny model in electric light, busting my back muscles. Maybe sunlight will show the shadows differently to inside lights that come from several sources at once. Maybe I will learn something else fantastic about working in sunlight. It would definitely be cheaper andsafer than working by flames inside a wattle and daub house with flammable furniture and roofing materials. There are some real up sides to not burning to death.
The biggest concept rattling around in my head this evening, as I sit here in the dark with 2 candles dangerously close to my hair is how important sunlight is. My 10th C smith worked set hours. He was not a shift worker. There was no option for working back late to finish a project. Sun up on a reasonably clear day when there was sufficient material in the workshop = work time. I'm going to try using that principle.
Maybe working only in day time will limit the number of manic hours I spend crouched overa tiny model in electric light, busting my back muscles. Maybe sunlight will show the shadows differently to inside lights that come from several sources at once. Maybe I will learn something else fantastic about working in sunlight. It would definitely be cheaper andsafer than working by flames inside a wattle and daub house with flammable furniture and roofing materials. There are some real up sides to not burning to death.
Sunday, 28 October 2012
Halloween!
We had our first Halloween party over the weekend. I carved my first pumpkins on Friday night - new favourite activity. But looking down at the table with 4 steak knives, 1 paring knife, 2 measuring cups, a dessert spoon, a tea spoon, a meat pricker, a VA antler handled knife and several measuring spoons got me thinking about the importance of having the right tool for the job. Clearly we didn't.
I need a couple of knives for my Birka kit, any way, and will need some smaller carving tools for the models. I have a couple of cheap, dual headed sculpting tool sets from a craft shop that I have been using to sculpt clay. They work well and were so cheap it wouldn't be worth replacing them. I also found a great image showing a shell and a piece of clay with the markings it made, found on a dig at Birka. I'll have to get around to uploading some images, because it is such a simple find that made me so excited. Might be able to talk to my friend who ran a forge at Spring War, and see if it is possible for me to learn to make a couple of knives and small tools next time he sets the forge up for a week end.
Short story: Need atleast 2 knives, some tiny needle-in-a-handle carving tools and a kit/box/chest/bag to store my smith's tools.
I need a couple of knives for my Birka kit, any way, and will need some smaller carving tools for the models. I have a couple of cheap, dual headed sculpting tool sets from a craft shop that I have been using to sculpt clay. They work well and were so cheap it wouldn't be worth replacing them. I also found a great image showing a shell and a piece of clay with the markings it made, found on a dig at Birka. I'll have to get around to uploading some images, because it is such a simple find that made me so excited. Might be able to talk to my friend who ran a forge at Spring War, and see if it is possible for me to learn to make a couple of knives and small tools next time he sets the forge up for a week end.
Short story: Need atleast 2 knives, some tiny needle-in-a-handle carving tools and a kit/box/chest/bag to store my smith's tools.
Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Investigations into the Black Earth vol 1
This series of publications look like little books, each containing articles on various investigations at Birka. My partner managed to get hold of a set 8 by contacting a Swedish uni and having a workmate's partner pay for them whilst on a holiday, after many attempts at online payments failed. They were absolutely worth the trouble.
I've been scanning and skipping the text to find any references that will help build my understanding and support my theories about mould making for fine metal manufacturing. Only problem, 3 sessions and I'm only half way through the first book. There is so much info that I am finding it hard to skim, and am actually re-reading the entire text. Combined with flicking back to previous pages and making notes, it is certainly building upon my prior knowledge. My concept maps with clouds for major factors and lines to droplets of references have become stormy scenes. In an effort to avoid chaotic presentation and keep my notes clear enough to find points by flicking through my note book, there seem to be new concept cloud maps on every page. One is not enough. What a great set of articles!
Short version of new info from memory:
Metal finds - weights (60 examples in one harbour). Merchant finds on Birka only account for 1.4% of items, but so many weights found here that Birka has significantly bumped up the incidence for the whole of Sweden. Finds in sheet, ingot and wire, as well as manufacturing waste and finished items. Bronze, silver, gold, iron, lead listed so far.
Slag - 3 kinds found on island and 1 points to fine metal work
Rock - 3 types (soapstone all fragmentary, suggestive of broken items, not working of raw stone)
Clay - Stolpe lists a couple of stratographies and the more recent digs in the 1990s show a couple of different types of clay on the island anywhere from 5ft above water level (on the surface) to 9ft underground below charcoally black earth, sand ashy soil, gravelly gravel and various combinations of black/charcoally and light grey ashy layers. Used for spindle whorls, loom weights, finemetal moulds, clay and wattle housing and for driving defensive harbour spikes into.
Crucibles - 60 fragments, all open type, indicating use in the typical Birka period of 9-10thC, not the prior Vendel or Migration lidded kinds.
Moulds - 35 fragments of moulds. 2 oval brooch styles (p51 and p37 type oval brooches) and
Ljones type equal-armed brooches may have been made on Birka. Got to check this out. Arrhenius studied this in 1973.
Pottery - 4 kinds found. Imported from Western Europe, Slavonic and Finnish regions. Local ware also found. Bucket shaped with inturned lip and nail incising. Not super relevant but may set up precedence for use of local clay in some handicrafts.
And some interesting rune sticks/bones with messages. One author suggests the burning on one end is from intentionally placing them in fire, since nothing around them is charred. Since the message on one says the woman is a laughing stock for doing something, maybe they were designed to erase the deed they record. Relevant because there was a silver foil pendant with 4 rows of runic inscriptions also found, linking runic inscriptions to the trade of fine metal working, and the use of bone as a carving medium links to the practice patterns carved into bones found in Dublin and elsewhere that I have yet to discover. Hoping to find enough evidence that I can produce a series of bone carvings as a sort of sample card of available designs for prospective jewellery customers who come to our workshop.
The picture is being slowly filled in.
I'm still curious: Would the craftsman have worked seated on a stool, seating on a raised section of the workshop, standing?
I've been scanning and skipping the text to find any references that will help build my understanding and support my theories about mould making for fine metal manufacturing. Only problem, 3 sessions and I'm only half way through the first book. There is so much info that I am finding it hard to skim, and am actually re-reading the entire text. Combined with flicking back to previous pages and making notes, it is certainly building upon my prior knowledge. My concept maps with clouds for major factors and lines to droplets of references have become stormy scenes. In an effort to avoid chaotic presentation and keep my notes clear enough to find points by flicking through my note book, there seem to be new concept cloud maps on every page. One is not enough. What a great set of articles!
Short version of new info from memory:
Metal finds - weights (60 examples in one harbour). Merchant finds on Birka only account for 1.4% of items, but so many weights found here that Birka has significantly bumped up the incidence for the whole of Sweden. Finds in sheet, ingot and wire, as well as manufacturing waste and finished items. Bronze, silver, gold, iron, lead listed so far.
Slag - 3 kinds found on island and 1 points to fine metal work
Rock - 3 types (soapstone all fragmentary, suggestive of broken items, not working of raw stone)
Clay - Stolpe lists a couple of stratographies and the more recent digs in the 1990s show a couple of different types of clay on the island anywhere from 5ft above water level (on the surface) to 9ft underground below charcoally black earth, sand ashy soil, gravelly gravel and various combinations of black/charcoally and light grey ashy layers. Used for spindle whorls, loom weights, finemetal moulds, clay and wattle housing and for driving defensive harbour spikes into.
Crucibles - 60 fragments, all open type, indicating use in the typical Birka period of 9-10thC, not the prior Vendel or Migration lidded kinds.
Moulds - 35 fragments of moulds. 2 oval brooch styles (p51 and p37 type oval brooches) and
Ljones type equal-armed brooches may have been made on Birka. Got to check this out. Arrhenius studied this in 1973.
Pottery - 4 kinds found. Imported from Western Europe, Slavonic and Finnish regions. Local ware also found. Bucket shaped with inturned lip and nail incising. Not super relevant but may set up precedence for use of local clay in some handicrafts.
And some interesting rune sticks/bones with messages. One author suggests the burning on one end is from intentionally placing them in fire, since nothing around them is charred. Since the message on one says the woman is a laughing stock for doing something, maybe they were designed to erase the deed they record. Relevant because there was a silver foil pendant with 4 rows of runic inscriptions also found, linking runic inscriptions to the trade of fine metal working, and the use of bone as a carving medium links to the practice patterns carved into bones found in Dublin and elsewhere that I have yet to discover. Hoping to find enough evidence that I can produce a series of bone carvings as a sort of sample card of available designs for prospective jewellery customers who come to our workshop.
The picture is being slowly filled in.
I'm still curious: Would the craftsman have worked seated on a stool, seating on a raised section of the workshop, standing?
Understanding metalworking books
I've ordered a few books from Lindsay Books to try to get my head around some basic metal working principles.
Brass and Alloy Founding
Metal Working for Amateurs
Making Crucibles
Charcoal Foundry
Assayers Guide
Although I am not planning on working in metal during this 12 month challenge, I think I'll need to know a bit about how metal performs whilst liquid, how to get it there using charcoal and a bit about the metals used.
In other news I've found a company in the US that sells elk antler in a variety of forms (paired, single shed, tines, dog chews, burrs etc). The Customs web page does not say there is a problem. The product clearly fits into the guidelines listed, but this all seems too easy. I'd hate to try to bring something into the country that will get heat treated or fumigated or cost a huge fee in treatments, so keep looking for something local. Nice to know the option exists though.
Brass and Alloy Founding
Metal Working for Amateurs
Making Crucibles
Charcoal Foundry
Assayers Guide
Although I am not planning on working in metal during this 12 month challenge, I think I'll need to know a bit about how metal performs whilst liquid, how to get it there using charcoal and a bit about the metals used.
In other news I've found a company in the US that sells elk antler in a variety of forms (paired, single shed, tines, dog chews, burrs etc). The Customs web page does not say there is a problem. The product clearly fits into the guidelines listed, but this all seems too easy. I'd hate to try to bring something into the country that will get heat treated or fumigated or cost a huge fee in treatments, so keep looking for something local. Nice to know the option exists though.
Sunday, 14 October 2012
Finds to source
The styles
Borre - the second half (early 9th to mid 10th)
Jellinge - miss the start, all the rest (late 9th to late 10th)
Mammen - first chunk (second half of 10th, early 11th C)
Broa is too early. Urnes and Ringerike are too late.
The following are finds that fit these time periods and styles, and could be relevant pieces for my craftsman to study. Some may have been buried at the time of his study, though the trial pieces or sample bone carvings could have still been in existence. The designs have a lot in common and I should have a look at them to get familiar with the elements. Might be good to see their locations on a map, with trade and raid routes marked.
b Borre in Vestfield, Norway
b Asen brooch
b Rinkaby, Sweden
b Nonnebakken, Denmark
b Gokstad ship burial
b Hon hoard, Norway
- areas of Russia settled by Scandanavians show jewellery with borre style designs
- influence of the style evident in carvings in Britain and Ireland
b Varby, Sweden
jbm Mammen, Denmark
j Jelling, Jutland
j influence on grave stone in York and 10th C Anglo saxon art
jb Skaill, on Orkney, Britain
j Viking style crosses, Isle of Man
jb Traen hoard, Norway, last decade of 10th C
jm Jelling Stone to King Harold Bluetooth
m Arnes, Norway
m some manx crosses
m Walrus ivory casket in Brambery Cathedral (Bavarian National Museum, Munich)
m Casket with antler panels, lost in WWII
mr Sigtuna, elk antler sword guard in transitional style combining Mammen and Rigerike
Borre - the second half (early 9th to mid 10th)
Jellinge - miss the start, all the rest (late 9th to late 10th)
Mammen - first chunk (second half of 10th, early 11th C)
Broa is too early. Urnes and Ringerike are too late.
The following are finds that fit these time periods and styles, and could be relevant pieces for my craftsman to study. Some may have been buried at the time of his study, though the trial pieces or sample bone carvings could have still been in existence. The designs have a lot in common and I should have a look at them to get familiar with the elements. Might be good to see their locations on a map, with trade and raid routes marked.
b Borre in Vestfield, Norway
b Asen brooch
b Rinkaby, Sweden
b Nonnebakken, Denmark
b Gokstad ship burial
b Hon hoard, Norway
- areas of Russia settled by Scandanavians show jewellery with borre style designs
- influence of the style evident in carvings in Britain and Ireland
b Varby, Sweden
jbm Mammen, Denmark
j Jelling, Jutland
j influence on grave stone in York and 10th C Anglo saxon art
jb Skaill, on Orkney, Britain
j Viking style crosses, Isle of Man
jb Traen hoard, Norway, last decade of 10th C
jm Jelling Stone to King Harold Bluetooth
m Arnes, Norway
m some manx crosses
m Walrus ivory casket in Brambery Cathedral (Bavarian National Museum, Munich)
m Casket with antler panels, lost in WWII
mr Sigtuna, elk antler sword guard in transitional style combining Mammen and Rigerike
'The Vikings' - J Graham-Campbell & Dafydd Kidd
This book has a load of general info as well as heaps of pics of extant jewellery, moulds and carvings. This one is winning so far. These are my favourite pieces.
p23, 45 Helgo - the predecessor of the township of Birka, from 3rdC AD, a few miles away. Birka had 700-1000 people
p48 Trade routes to Birka closed in the last quarter of the 10th C.
p108 Extant shawl brooch and horse ornaments from Birka
p141-143 Moulds from antler, stone and clay. Some used for casting while others were used as dies to impress images upon gold and silver foil.
p145 There was a small hammer made from elk antler, also found in Birka, for jewellery work
p179 In Trendgaarden, Denmark, someone made a mould with both Thor's hammers and Christian crosses in it. The 9th and 10th centuries were a time for mixed religion in Scandanavia and a smith saw his chance to target both markets. There was textual evidence for cohabitation of heathen and Christian people in Hedeby and Birka. Maybe there will be evidence of the smiths in Birka catering for both religions, like the one in Trendsgaarden.
p23, 45 Helgo - the predecessor of the township of Birka, from 3rdC AD, a few miles away. Birka had 700-1000 people
p48 Trade routes to Birka closed in the last quarter of the 10th C.
p108 Extant shawl brooch and horse ornaments from Birka
p141-143 Moulds from antler, stone and clay. Some used for casting while others were used as dies to impress images upon gold and silver foil.
p145 There was a small hammer made from elk antler, also found in Birka, for jewellery work
p179 In Trendgaarden, Denmark, someone made a mould with both Thor's hammers and Christian crosses in it. The 9th and 10th centuries were a time for mixed religion in Scandanavia and a smith saw his chance to target both markets. There was textual evidence for cohabitation of heathen and Christian people in Hedeby and Birka. Maybe there will be evidence of the smiths in Birka catering for both religions, like the one in Trendsgaarden.
Casting in Birka
Page 96 of 'The Viking World', James Graham-Campbell, says there is evidence of bronze casting in Birka. Sounds good. Unfortunately that's pretty much all it says but it means I'm on the right track.
I chose Birka because we've been recreating life in 9-10th C Birka for our campsite over the last few years and I wanted to build on that. Nice to hear that there actually was a fine metal workshop there around the right time period.
This book also has an image of a beautiful bronze brazier from 800AD, imported from Baghdad, found in Sweden. It's a bit early, but since it is still in existence now, that exact item would have been in existence in the right part of the world while my craftsman was working. Nice thought. Makes it all a bit real. He could have been to see it in another workshop.
I chose Birka because we've been recreating life in 9-10th C Birka for our campsite over the last few years and I wanted to build on that. Nice to hear that there actually was a fine metal workshop there around the right time period.
This book also has an image of a beautiful bronze brazier from 800AD, imported from Baghdad, found in Sweden. It's a bit early, but since it is still in existence now, that exact item would have been in existence in the right part of the world while my craftsman was working. Nice thought. Makes it all a bit real. He could have been to see it in another workshop.
Hordweard - starting concepts
This page will be a record of anything interesting that I find while completing the 2012-2013 Hordweard challenge.
I have chosen to study the skill set of a model and mould maker working in a fine metal smith workshop during the 10th century in the township of Birka. This might mean I do some casting, but it's not really the goal. Making moulds from a range of materials in a range of designs seems a large enough set of processes to attempt in just 12 months.
I've been thinking about the following concepts in starting to approach this challenge:
1. There are 12 months available to complete this challenge
2. The spread of information and techniques
3. What my craftsman would have been doing
4. How my craftsman would learn these new skills
1. 12 months- this is not very long to spend researching and practising a new skill. I would like to think that this will all lead to casting items, but given that we have just one year, I'd rather try to get some of the foundational skills up to a better level than leap too far forward and make poorer set of items.
2. Modern timeframes vs timeframes in the Viking Age - we seem to fall into the trap of thinking that because large volumes of information are available to us very quickly, we should be able to 'learn' quickly. Without the aid of electronic telecommunication, VA people relied on word of mouth, visual information and, to a lesser extent, written texts. These could only be transported as fast as a ship could sail, a person could walk or a trader could get to the next business centre. This would have slowed information compared to our modern view, but it allowed time for assimilation, practice and consideration. When a new technique or design was seen, it took time to bring home and replicate.
I'm going to try to grab info from a certain time frame (maybe the first half of the 10th century) and a certain place (the trading settlement at Birka in modern Sweden). Then I am going to try to approach the task from the point of view of a smith of that time - not sure exactly how to do that yet, but perhaps it will mean doing a fair whack of research first and then avoiding google while I spend a few months trialling some methods. Talking to other people who have used the methods or who know about related methods feels like it would have been part of the learning process, along with trial and error and repetition.
3.Would there have been more than one person doing the work in a fine metal workshop? Would the same person have done the sculpting, the moulding, the casting, the cleaning and the setting? Were there groups of workers who each only worked on one step of the process? Were there teams, with each person able to complete all steps, but each having their own area of expertise? I'm going to use the latter model (since my starting research doesn't suggest the buildings were much larger than a town home, suggesting a similar sized group, and hasn't yet contradicted that idea). This is why I will focus on just the mould making side of the process.
4. The process of learning a new skill in a finemetal workshop could have taken several forms - apprentices or bonded workers who were taken in specifically to learn a task, an experienced crasftsman who has heard of a new technique and needs to teach themselves, or possibly a family business with younger members growing up into the smith, learning skills by exposure and rote tasks from an early age. In each of these scenarios there must be learning tasks to build the skills. I will be trying to learn about the learning techniques used in the VA and then use the same activities to build my skills.
I'm very much looking forward to this hordweard. Hope it doesn't eat me up.
I have chosen to study the skill set of a model and mould maker working in a fine metal smith workshop during the 10th century in the township of Birka. This might mean I do some casting, but it's not really the goal. Making moulds from a range of materials in a range of designs seems a large enough set of processes to attempt in just 12 months.
I've been thinking about the following concepts in starting to approach this challenge:
1. There are 12 months available to complete this challenge
2. The spread of information and techniques
3. What my craftsman would have been doing
4. How my craftsman would learn these new skills
1. 12 months- this is not very long to spend researching and practising a new skill. I would like to think that this will all lead to casting items, but given that we have just one year, I'd rather try to get some of the foundational skills up to a better level than leap too far forward and make poorer set of items.
2. Modern timeframes vs timeframes in the Viking Age - we seem to fall into the trap of thinking that because large volumes of information are available to us very quickly, we should be able to 'learn' quickly. Without the aid of electronic telecommunication, VA people relied on word of mouth, visual information and, to a lesser extent, written texts. These could only be transported as fast as a ship could sail, a person could walk or a trader could get to the next business centre. This would have slowed information compared to our modern view, but it allowed time for assimilation, practice and consideration. When a new technique or design was seen, it took time to bring home and replicate.
I'm going to try to grab info from a certain time frame (maybe the first half of the 10th century) and a certain place (the trading settlement at Birka in modern Sweden). Then I am going to try to approach the task from the point of view of a smith of that time - not sure exactly how to do that yet, but perhaps it will mean doing a fair whack of research first and then avoiding google while I spend a few months trialling some methods. Talking to other people who have used the methods or who know about related methods feels like it would have been part of the learning process, along with trial and error and repetition.
3.Would there have been more than one person doing the work in a fine metal workshop? Would the same person have done the sculpting, the moulding, the casting, the cleaning and the setting? Were there groups of workers who each only worked on one step of the process? Were there teams, with each person able to complete all steps, but each having their own area of expertise? I'm going to use the latter model (since my starting research doesn't suggest the buildings were much larger than a town home, suggesting a similar sized group, and hasn't yet contradicted that idea). This is why I will focus on just the mould making side of the process.
4. The process of learning a new skill in a finemetal workshop could have taken several forms - apprentices or bonded workers who were taken in specifically to learn a task, an experienced crasftsman who has heard of a new technique and needs to teach themselves, or possibly a family business with younger members growing up into the smith, learning skills by exposure and rote tasks from an early age. In each of these scenarios there must be learning tasks to build the skills. I will be trying to learn about the learning techniques used in the VA and then use the same activities to build my skills.
I'm very much looking forward to this hordweard. Hope it doesn't eat me up.
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