Metall i bunn og grunn. Metallutvinning i Oslo, ca 1150-1250 e. Kr.

Sammendrag

Summary. It has been doubted whether people in peripheral Norway
were able to master the technique of extracting metal from
solid rock, prior to the Late Middle Ages, when German
miners prospected and explored ore deposits. This paper
sheds light on metallurgists working in the medieval Old
town of Oslo, their access to local raw materials, and
their metallurgical expertise and abilities. It is argued that
people living in Oslo had access to the rock mineral galena
(PbS), and that by AD 1150–1200, at the latest, they had
the technology to produce lead. It can be contended that
metallurgical activities took place in two different areas of
the town. The study also indicates that local lead was in
circulation simultaneously as lead from foreign sources,
which may have provided new opportunities for actors in the
town. While the lead was used to produce so-called everyday
products, indications of serial production of spinning whorls,
exceeding that of a normal household, could have been
connected to a specialized industry for shoe production.
Furthermore, this paper demonstrates how with crossdisciplinary
methods, new information can be gathered from
old treasures.