2012 Lectures - Schedule

Public Lecture - SCA Petra Thule
Feburary 22

Lady Eaton College / Building 7, rm 208
Peterborough, Ontario

'Medieval Iron - an Overview' A fast look over Iron as a material, iron work as a process, and iron objects of the Middle Ages. A focus will be to take a look at the kinds of objects of special interest and utility to the re-enactor. There will be a simple overview of blacksmithing equipment from the period - and what you would need to get started *historic* forging. Illustrated with images and replicas.

22nd Annual Symposium
Saturday March 31

Bricker Academic Building, Wilfrid Laurier University
Waterloo Ontario

Experimental Vikings: Glass and Iron 'An Iron Smelt in Vinland - an experimental investigation' Investigations of the archaeological site at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, indicate local bog iron ore was smelted into workable metal, at least once, by the Norse some time about 1000 AD. Just why the first iron smelt in North America was carried out remains open to interpretation. Starting in 2009, a team from Ontario, Canada, conducted a series of five experiments, culminating on a full re-creation of the original Norse iron smelt at L'Anse aux Meadows NHSC in August of 2010. This paper will detail how the archaeological evidence was combined with years of experience with Norse styled furnaces to produce a successful working system. What was learned about the physical process can now shed greater light on not only early iron smelting methods, but what happened in Vinland near the end of the Viking Age. This is a formal paper (slightly expanded), delivered in combination with Neil Peterson's 'Glass on Fire: temperatures in reconstructed Norse bead furnaces'. (A test run of my ICMS submission, see below.)

'Presenting the Past - developing Living History programming' Effectively mounting a living history presentation in front of the general public is significantly different than gathering with other re-enactors at a closed event. Experience has long proved establishing an overall design to a presentation will significantly improve its value to (and reception by) both institutions and the viewing public. Do individual personas actually reflect historical realities? Is there a general theme or specific topics which should (or should not!) be illustrated? What presentation methods have proved most effective? Illustrations will be drawn from a number of differing time periods / living history presentations

For more information on the event go to the FITP web site

47th Annual Symposium
May 10 - 13

Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, Michigan

'An Iron Smelt in Vinland - an experimental investigation' Thursday May 10, 10 AM / Session 24 / Fetzer 1045 Investigations of the archaeological site at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, indicate local bog iron ore was smelted into workable metal, at least once, by the Norse some time about 1000 AD. Just why the first iron smelt in North America was carried out remains open to interpretation. Starting in 2009, a team from Ontario, Canada, conducted a series of five experiments, culminating on a full re-creation of the original Norse iron smelt at L'Anse aux Meadows NHSC in August of 2010. This paper will detail how the archaeological evidence was combined with years of experience with Norse styled furnaces to produce a successful working system. What was learned about the physical process can now shed greater light on not only early iron smelting methods, but what happened in Vinland near the end of the Viking Age. This is the formal delivery of this academic paper, delivered at the session 'Can these Bones Come to Life ' which deals with various discoveries from Experimental Archaeology.

For more information on the event go to the ICMS web site