![]() The Vikings mined bog iron during the summers, then smelted it and worked the iron during the long Scandinavian winters. The continuous flow of iron-rich water, along with ongoing and rapid chemical and biochemical action, enables rapid replenishment, and they can be mined again in as little as 20 years. Such deposits are easy to find the oily, iridescent film left on the surface of bog water by the action of the siderophilic bacteria is a sure sign of bog iron.īog iron deposits are a rare example of a renewable mineral resource. Removing the top peat layer exposes concentrated strata of these nodules, which can then be readily “mined”. ![]() These chemical and biochemical processes concentrate the heavy, pea-size, bog iron nodules in layers just below the bog surface. In a simultaneous biochemical reaction, the anaerobic, siderophilic (iron-loving) bacteria that thrive in peat bogs digest or oxidize part of the dissolved iron to contribute to the production of insoluble iron compounds. Iron-rich water draining from surrounding hills and mountains collects in the acidic, oxygen-deficient, lowland peat bogs, where the dissolved iron converts to insoluble forms that precipitate out of solution as small nodules. Southern Sweden, where the Vikings mined much of their bog iron, is the site of numerous peat bogs, which are prime environments for concentrating bog iron. Bog iron, the first iron ore ever mined, is a mix of goethite and other iron oxyhydroxides, along with lesser amounts of the iron-oxide minerals hematite and magnetite.īog iron forms through the chemical and biochemical oxidation of dissolved iron. The essential material behind the Vikings’ conquests and achievements, however, was iron, which they obtained by mining and smelting bog iron ores. Viking weapons were made of wrought iron, which was actually a high-quality, corrosion-resistant, low-carbon steel. Exposed to many different cultures, they gained an appreciation of, and desire for, such luxury items as precious metals, gemstones, and jewelry. 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.ĭuring the 350-year-long Viking Age, Vikings traveled all over Western Europe and to places as distant as the North American coast, the Mediterranean shores of Africa, western Russia, and the Black Sea. ![]() They were master ironworkers, accomplished silversmiths, and creative jewelry makers who worked with silver, gold, bronze, carnelian, rock crystal, garnet, and colorful glass beads. They had a talent for acquiring and working with metals, minerals, and gemstones. The Vikings were neither a homogenous culture nor a single nationality, but a mix of different Scandinavian societies that shared a rich mythology and spoke similar languages. ![]() ![]() While the Vikings were certainly fierce warriors who looted and plundered at every opportunity, they were also successful farmers, skilled craftspeople, fearless mariners, and wily traders. But the achievements of the people who lived in what are now the countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden from 750 to 1100 CE-the period known as the Viking Age-went far beyond these stereotypes. Among the popular, contemporary images of Vikings are those of sword-swinging warriors, daring sea voyagers, and fearsome raiders. ![]()
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