4Game

Today I had my mind blown. When I first learned about Iron in Valheim's swamps, I thought that it was kindof weird… the copper and tin make sense, dig into the ground, but looking for iron in a swamp? That's not where you look for iron. You look for iron in the mountains. Duh.

But as it turns out, Bog Iron was the primary source of iron for Northern Europeans, especially the Vikings, into medieval times.

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Iron production sites in central Sweden is dated to the late Bronze Age and the innovation might have been transmitted both from the south and from east. The ore used was limonite in form of red soil and bog ore and from the 200 CE was limonite-deposits from lakes used. The ore was reduced in bloomeries. There is evidence of a direct relationship between Viking settlements in Northern Europe & North America and bog iron deposits. Bog iron dominated the iron production of Norse populated areas including Scandinavia and Finland from 500 to 1300 CE. Large scale production of bog iron was also established in Iceland at sites known as "Iron Farms".

How did I never know of this?? Apparently it's even a renewable resource!