Viking Swords — The Afghan Connection(?)
As reported by The Register, Viking-Age metalurgical techniques were imported to the Baltic region from the Middle East. Analysis by scientists at the British National Physical Laboratory suggests that steel for sword-making may have been produced using methods imported along Viking trade routes through Russia:
The results showed that the swords were made of imperfectly melted steel – consisting of a mixture of iron and carbonaceous materials heated together to give high-carbon steel. NPL’s results match descriptions of ancient sword making in Herat (now in Afghanistan) described by ninth century Arab philosopher and writer Al-Kindi. This links to a known Viking trade route down the Volga and across the Caspian Sea to Iran … until now it was not known that Vikings had brought crucible steel back to Scandinavia and integrated ancient Arab steelmaking methods with their own swordsmithing.
I’d be interested to know if any archaeologically-minded readers have opnions on this story. While the discovery of more details about Viking-Age steel making is certainly interesting, I can see some methodological problems with making the leap to this proposed route of transmission for the technology.
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Indeed this leap is problematic… There is, it seems, a general tendency to jump on such “connections” without taking into account the other possibility, which is separate, independent discoveries (simultaneous or not).
On the other hand there has been, AFAIK, many suggestions that some Scandinavians had imported technology from south and east, notably Magyar horse-equipment, and also clothing. Plus, we know that the Scandinavians often imported their swords from lands afar (notably from the Franks). This might be another solution to this “Afghan connection” : the technique was not imported but the swords were.
In fact, I’d be curious to know how many Scandinavian swords were sampled in this study, and from where and when they were from. Are we talking about all Viking swords, or some Viking swords ?
Another solution would be that of a technological transfer not directly from Iran to Scandinavia, but more progressively and slowly, through other places and peoples in between ; some kind of gradual “contamination” of this technique, as some other technologies did (AFAIK that is how agriculture is thought to have spread).