Comparison of two neighbouring early medieval iron production areas in the Czech Republic

MIKULEC, Roman. Comparison of two neighbouring early medieval iron production areas in the Czech Republic. In Archaeometallurgy in Europe 2024. 2024.

Basic information

• Original name: Comparison of two neighbouring early medieval iron production areas in the Czech Republic
• Authors: MIKULEC, Roman.
• Edition: Archaeometallurgy in Europe 2024, 2024.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 60102 Archaeology
• Country of publisher: Sweden
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: Stránky konference
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• Keywords in English: early middle ages; ironmongery; Boskovice Furrow; Moravian Karst; archaeometric analysis

Abstract

The iron production played a very important role in early medieval Europe, and it was no different in the territory of today's Czech Republic, especially during the existence of the Great Moravia. Iron was a crucial commodity for two most important pillars of the economy: the intensifying agricultural production and warfare (especially looting raids). A better knowledge of this industry is therefore very important for understanding the functioning of the society of the time. For this reason, I decided to focus on the early medieval (c. 550–1200 AD) ironmongery in the Boskovice Furrow, area adjacent to another, better known, iron production region: the Moravian Karst. These two areas are very different both in terms of the evidence of iron production and natural environment. On the one hand, we have systematically arranged ironworks with several pyrotechnological devices and large waste heaps in the wooded area of the Moravian Karst and on the other hand rather isolated finds of ironmongery activities from the fertile Boskovice Furrow. For early Middle Ages approximately 13 ironworks localities are known from the Boskovice Furrow and, of course, a refuse of this production (slags, tuyères, furnace linings…) is mainly found. Thanks to the evaluation of this material, it is possible to get a better overview of production on the individual sites and also within the Boskovice Furrow as a whole (the nature of production, its intensity, diachronic development). For example, slags can be divided into several categories (smelting, smithing, ceramic and uncategorized) according to their morphological qualities. However, this method understandably has its limits, so in the case of site Bořitov archaeometric analyses (ED-XRF, pXRF, SEM/EDS...) were used to verify this division on 10 selected samples. Subsequently, several samples of iron ore, obtained from the vicinity of Bořitov, were also subjected to ED-XRF analysis for comparison of chemical composition. In the case of tuyères, according to the discoveries from the Moravian Karst, width of their wall should be theoretically usable for a dating. After interim evaluation it seems that the iron production in the Boskovice Furrow was probably focused mainly on the needs of the local communities, in the vicinity of whose settlements the ironworks sites are usually being found. On the contrary, massive production in the neighbouring Moravian Karst was, especially in the period of Great Moravia, probably under the supervision of higher ranks of society.