Minerals of the Vikings!

[Artfuldodger]

They had a talent for acquiring and working with metals, minerals, and gemstones. They were master iron workers, accomplished silversmiths, and creative jewelry makers who worked with silver, gold, bronze, carnelian, rock crystal, garnet, and colorful glass beads. The Vikings also made optical lenses from rock crystal, and may even have devised an ingenious navigational use for the Iceland spar variety of calcite and other transparent, birefringent crystals.

https://www.rockngem.com/minerals-of-the-vikings/

 

[Artfuldodger]

Ran across this in relation to minerals and iron ore. The Vikings would collect it all summer and work it in the winter.
Interesting in that they used anvil stones. The Vikings used stone anvils for heavy work like bloom consolidation and refining into bar stock Made all sorts of things. Looks like the Viking Age only lasted about 300-350 years.

http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/bog_iron.htm

 

[NCHillbilly]

They had a talent for acquiring and working with metals, minerals, and gemstones. They were master iron workers, accomplished silversmiths, and creative jewelry makers who worked with silver, gold, bronze, carnelian, rock crystal, garnet, and colorful glass beads. The Vikings also made optical lenses from rock crystal, and may even have devised an ingenious navigational use for the Iceland spar variety of calcite and other transparent, birefringent crystals.

https://www.rockngem.com/minerals-of-the-vikings/

And before that, were masterful flintknappers. Those old Danish daggers are some of the most impressive works of knapping ever discovered anywhere in the world.

 

[Artfuldodger]

And before that, were masterful flintknappers. Those old Danish daggers are some of the most impressive works of knapping ever discovered anywhere in the world.

Just googled them and down the rabbit hole I go,lol. They look really cool. Reading this;
"The flint daggers of late Neolithic Denmark are some of the most technically complex stone tools in the world."

I figured they were still used after and during the use of iron making;
"For at least 500 years after metal revolutionized weapons technology and the art of combat around 2000 BCE, flint daggers continued to be produced and used."

 

[Artfuldodger]

Found this looking at Viking anvil stones. Lots of various types of anvils;
https://oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2015/12/baba-hammer-and-anvil.html

 

[Batjack]

Something I bet you use every day was named after one of their most prolific kings..... Harold "Blue Tooth" Gormsson.

 

[blood on the ground]

Loving all this information! Thanks guy’s!

 

[GeorgiaGlockMan]

I always wondered about this rock.

Recon it was an anvil stone?

 

[NCHillbilly]

Just googled them and down the rabbit hole I go,lol. They look really cool. Reading this;
"The flint daggers of late Neolithic Denmark are some of the most technically complex stone tools in the world."

I figured they were still used after and during the use of iron making;
"For at least 500 years after metal revolutionized weapons technology and the art of combat around 2000 BCE, flint daggers continued to be produced and used."

There are only a handful of knappers today who can make one. And that's with all the known information in the world at their fingertips, and much better tools at their disposal.

 

[Artfuldodger]

I always wondered about this rock.

Recon it was an anvil stone?

It looks to have a large enough surface area. Not very tall though. Maybe someone with more experience in that culture will answer. Does it have any marks on it that would look man made?

 

[Nicodemus]

There are only a handful of knappers today who can make one. And that's with all the known information in the world at their fingertips, and much better tools at their disposal.

I`m honored to personally know three that can.

 

[NCHillbilly]

I`m honored to personally know three that can.

I know one, James Parker. Maybe two. James made a nice one from green rhyolite once, to boot.

 

[Nicodemus]

Ben Kirkland, John Tuttle, and Craig Ratzat. John made a beauty of a Type 5 out of Alibates. I tried to talk him out of that one

 

[NCHillbilly]

Ben Kirkland, John Tuttle, and Craig Ratzat. John made a beauty of a Type 5 out of Alibates. I tried to talk him out of that one

I've met Craig, but I don't really know him. Heck of a knapper.

 

[Nicodemus]

I've met Craig, but I don't really know him. Heck of a knapper.

That he is. John put his three kids through college on flintknapper pay. Ain`t much Ben can`t make and he is strictly an ABO knapper.

 

[Dutch]

Something I bet you use every day was named after one of their most prolific kings..... Harold "Blue Tooth" Gormsson.

The Bluetooth logo is the combination of “H” and “B,” the initials of Harald Bluetooth, written in the runes used by Viking

 

[Nicodemus]

Something I bet you use every day was named after one of their most prolific kings..... Harold "Blue Tooth" Gormsson.

He has another claim to fame too. He`s kin to The Redhead.

 

[Son]

And my DNA came back saying I had Viking DNA. Wondering if I can claim minority status?