Author: Matt Davis / Source: Big Think
- Iron Age Scandinavians only had access to poor quality iron, which put them at a tactical disadvantage against their neighbors.
- To strengthen their swords, smiths used the bones of their dead ancestors and animals, hoping to transfer the spirit into their blades.
- They couldn’t have known that in so doing, they actually were forging a rudimentary form of steel.
Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke wrote that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” While we usually extend this to the future, the same was true of the past. In much of ancient history, the line between technology and ritual was thin. Smiths were something in between craftsman and magicians, in possession of secret, esoteric knowledge. In early Iron Age Scandinavia, for instance, just before the advent of the Viking Age, smiths discovered a ritual that enabled them to impart the steely strength of their ancestors and animals into their weapons.
This was a crucial transformation for Scandinavians; the majority of iron they had access to was bog iron. Bacteria in bogs oxidize trace amounts of iron to gain energy and, in so doing, concentrate the iron, enabling its collection for smithing. However, the resulting iron is impure and soft, which was a big problem for the Scandinavians. Conflicts could easily be decided by the side that had the better equipment, and Iron Age Scandinavia was full of conflict.
Either against the Romans, neighboring warlords, or Christian settlements, survival depended upon defending against conflict or engaging in it.
Scandinavian smiths discovered that the bones of the dead could grant them an edge. Numerous forges scattered across Scandinavia contain the remains of animal and human bones — by incorporating the remains of the dead, their spirits could be transferred into a blade, making it stronger and more durable.
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