the CONFERENCE on ARCHAEOLOGY, the MEDIEVAL,
and EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING of TOMORROW
C.A.M.E.L.O.T. is a medieval and experimental archaeology conference happening on Sunday 21 September 2025 (8:30 - 5:30) at St. Jerome's University in the University of Waterloo.
https://www.dragenlab.ca/camelot-conference
Session SJ2 2001 - 11:45
'20 Years Before the Blast' - Experimental Bloomery Iron Smelting 2001-2024
" Independent
Researcher Darrell Markewitz will present a brief overview of his
recently published book of the same name, considering what has been
learned from 100 individual bloomery iron smelts. These experimental
tests focus on historic methods from Northern Europe, loosely
post Roman through to the Early Medieval adoption of water powered
equipment. Topics will include variations in furnace builds, the
influences of air
delivery systems and individual ores.
There will be summaries of that was learned from projects based on
specific archaeology; Vinland, Icelandic and Pictish furnaces, and a
consideration of bloom quality into the final ‘bloom to bar’
stage. "
Display Table (all day)
Experimental Archaeology by the Dark Ages Re-creation Company
" Both
forged iron objects and glass beads are well represented in Viking
Age sites. But how exactly
is ore turned into metal bars, or glass fused into patterned beads?
It turns out the actual equipment used is not found, and the physical
methods used are lost to time. For two decades, members of the Dark
Ages Re-creation Company, a living history group focused on the
Norse, have undertaken an extensive investigation into bloomery iron
smelting and glass bead making furnaces. A
combination of posters and display tables of physical objects
illustrates this work. "
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