Featured in the EXARC Journal

Ancient Technology

“Look at the Bones!” - Adding Bone in a Bloomery Iron Smelt

Author(s)
Darrell Markewitz 1
Publication Date

Introduction

Vikings unwittingly made their swords stronger by trying to imbue them with spirits.
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 were forging a rudimentary form of steel.

Matt Davis (2019)

Testing Roman Glass in the Flame

Author(s)
Sue Heaser 1
Publication Date

Introduction

Experiments on glass bead techniques used in antiquity have produced many insights into how early medieval beadmakers made their beads (Heaser, 2018). The studies mainly focused on early medieval beads found in cemeteries of the fifth and sixth centuries AD in England. Replica tools and a simple modern blow torch were used to simulate the conditions of the ancient beadmakers (See Appendix 1).

Garum Sardiniae in Tabula: Rediscovering the Ancient Taste of Roman Cuisine

Author(s)
Riccardo Grasso 1 ✉,
Tania Piga 2,
Alessio Gorga 3,
Manuel Mainetti 4
Publication Date
The historiography concerning the Garum, as well as the archaeological evidence of the same, are very wide and cover the entire topic both from the historical and archaeological points of view. Can a team of archaeologists faithfully recreate Garum today, starting only with the historical knowledge available to us, and at the same time ...