DARC published in EXARC!

Our Readers may be interested in this.
The journal 'EuroREA' has shifted from hard copy to a new on line format and name. In the most current issue, there are *two* submissions by DARC members! Neil' Peterson's piece describes the group's 2010 presentation at L'Anse aux Meadows NHSC. There is also a longer article by Darrell Markewitz on mounting an effective iron smelting presentation.

EXARC JOURNAL Issue 2012/1 published!

Since it started in 2004, EuroREA has grown both in terms of content and readership. After sending you a month ago our printed EXARC Journal Digest 2011, we are now proud to present the first online issue of the EXARC Journal. We expect to publish this EXARC Journal three times a year.

Following the 2011 Digest which was published for our members by early December, we have now published the first issue of the online EXARC Journal. It contains 11 articles on archaeological open-air museums and experimental archaeology. These articles are access to members only.
The third category, mixed matters is open access and contains a total of 23 articles, some of which are conference reviews or book reviews, some other refer to people and events. We hope our readers are happy with the results and wish you happy reading.
There will be two more online issues of our EXARC Journal this year.

Below, an example of two of the total of 34 new articles in our EXARC Journal Issue 2012/1.

Below is one of a total of 23 (!) articles available free on line:

50th Anniversary of L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada

Neil Peterson (CA)

Issue 2012/1

The summer of 2010 saw the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Viking Era site at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland Canada. To celebrate this milestone Parks Canada arranged a number of special events, including an August visit from the Dark Ages Re-creation Company (DARC).

You will require a paid subscription to access the eleven Member only articles:

"But if you don't get any IRON..."

Darrell Markewitz (CA) Issue 2012/1 Experimental Archaeology

Few ancient processes are as mysterious as smelting ore into metallic iron. Just how, exactly, is this done? The exact processes used by the ancients are unknown, but modern experiments can suggest some possibilities... Read more

EXARC newsletter

DARC returns to LAM in 2012!

The Dark Ages Re-Creation Company
will be returning to
L'Anse aux Meadows NHSC!
July 19 - 27, 2012

At this point the exact interpretive program has not been established. The specific physical demonstrations will depend largely on what additional members of DARC chose to enlarge the core team.
What you can certainly expect to see:

Green Woodworking - including a spring pole lathe
(Grimmi roughing out, Thorgir on the lathe)

Weaving on the Warp Weighted Loom
(Ka∂lin preparing the warp)

Small Textiles - Spinning, Naelbinding, Tablet Weaving
(Jorin working in the sunshine.)

Domestic Tasks, including food preparation
(Kadja - 'A woman's work is never done - especially when she is a slave.')

Trade and Gaming
(Ragnar - ' Would you buy a used longship from this man?')

Some Other Guy who also seems to talk a LOT.
(Kettil ponders a question)
Daily Life in the Viking Age
(Snorri looking on)


First Image by D. Markewitz
Other images by P. Halasz
All taken during the August 2010 presenation

October Bead Experiments

On a miserable rainy weekend in Mid October the bead folks got together to run more furnaces to collect additional temperatures and make more beads.

The full report can be found at http://www.darkcompany.ca/beads/bead1011/

Interesting items in this report:

• Temperatures were taken both inside and in the chimney at the same time for all three furnaces
• After the day was done the furnaces were broken down and the impact of the heat was recorded at many locations in the construction
• Some interesting beads were made
• Some interesting reticella was made
  

Now we just have a paper to write for ExArc

Bill Short on Norse Weapons & Combat

Our readers will be interested in this note from Bill Short, researcher, author and fellow Viking Age re-enactor. Bill is associated with the Higgins Armoury Musueum, and we of DARC have worked along side him on several occasions.


Generally, his Hurstwic web site is an excellent overview of many aspects of Norse archaeology, live and that group's ongoing experiments and research.


(The following was scooped from a recent Facebook posting from Bill) 

William Short

I've been updating some of the Hurstwic web articles with additional and updated text, and with many dozens of new photos. A lot of the photos were shot for my next book and illustrate our current interpretation of Viking fighting moves from the sagas. The new material is interspersed with the old, but most of it is in the arms and armor articles:
http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/arms.htm
and in the turfhouse article:
http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/Turf_Houses.htm

Hurstwic: Viking Age Arms and Armor

www.hurstwic.org

Comparatively little is known about Viking age weapons, and even less is known about how the weapons were used. This limited knowledge is due to the limited sources we have available for the study of Viking age weapons and their use. This series of interlinked articles summarizes what is known ...

More Bead Experiments

On Sept 10th the bead folks met again to make some beads and continue our research into the construction and use of the viking era furnaces.

In this case we were after data on how warm the furnaces got and how long they stayed at temperature. Peak temperatures around 1200 C were recorded and times in a useful temperature range ranged up to 10 minutes.

The full report can be found at
http://www.darkcompany.ca/beads/bead0911/

DARC at CanIRON 8 - with images!

This is my version of the smelt report:

Go to the main Wareham Iron Smelting web site: DARC at CanIRON 8


(Image above by David Daciw)

Measuring the HEAT...

Iron Smelting Furnace Temperatures
Short Shaft over Slag Pit

October 9, 2011 / DARC Smelt Team, Neil Peterson recording

On our last smelt, we set up to record furnace temperatures over the duration of the experiment.


The furnace was our standard short shaft type, roughly 25 cm interior diameter, 70 cm total height.
Walls were clay and straw cobb, about 10 cm thickness.
Fuel was hardwood charcoal (mainly oak) graded to .5 through 2.5 cm diameters.
Air volume via the tuyere (set at 20 cm above base) was roughly 800 litres per minute.

Holes were drilled through the furnace walls at roughly every 10 cm, starting at 10 cm above the interior base.
Measurements were taken using an industrial quality digital pyrometer (Model HH12B from Omega with type K bare wire thermocouples).
The probes were inserted roughly 5 cm beyond the interior surface of the furnace wall.
Measurements were taken roughly every hour over the course of the smelt event.

Because the probes did not reach into the central core of the furnace, there is every possibility that the central furnace temperatures were even higher than what was recorded.
Our thermocouples failed (melted!) at roughly 1350 C. On several recordings, this temperature was reached.

Image : Neil takes readings, early in the smelt

Time	Elapsed	base	tuyere	plus 10	plus 20	plus 30	plus 40	top
		10 cm	20 cm	30 cm	40 cm	50 cm	60 cm	70 cm
12:06	:06		653	890	749	579	343
13:05	1:05		1042	1335	1300	1145	1002	610
13:50	1:50	328	1051	plus 1350	1195	1189	1014	660
15:12	3:12	995	1226	1268	1293	1128	1011	608
16:32	4:32			1124	1265 *	909	700	719

Note: It has been suggested by some theoretical researchers that temperatures above 1200 C are impossible to achieve inside a charcoal fired furnace...

Cross posted from Hammered Out Bits