Complex Metalworking in the Provinces, Rural Centres and Towns

Preliminary Results from the Project “Exclusive Metalworking in Rural Settings” Contextualized

Abstract

The research project “Exclusive Metalworking in Rural Settings” was instigated in 2013 with funding from the Berit Wallenberg Foundation. The objective of the project is to survey sites with remains of multimetal craftsmanship of the late Iron Age and medieval periods outside urban contexts. This article aims to contextualize preliminary results from the project and evaluate its chosen source material and methodology.

The survey has so far identified several complex smithing sites in the rural and nearurban landscape. The multimetal sites are divisible into three categories: sites in the vicinity of towns, sites related to central places and more or less independent provincial sites.

Sites from each of these categories are presented below and the results that the macrolevel survey has yielded as to the multimetal craftsmanship conducted are analysed. The results are then used to pursue a broader discussion concerning the conceptual aspects of complex metalworking – multimetality in the landscape.