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This paper explores the use of iron in the Late Bronze Age and the earliest Iron Age (c. 1100-300 BC) in south-eastern Sweden, with a focus on the final Bronze Age and Pre-Roman Iron Age I. The aim is to study how early iron was used, valued and perceived, particularly in relation to pre-existing bronze and gold. Choosing iron for certain object types, such as dress attributes and arm rings, and in key symbols, notably the spiral, suggests an appreciation for its metallic shine and colour in contrast to bronze. This silvery lustre was in some cases exploited intentionally, and may sometimes have been associated with the moon in a celestial mythology. The lunar connection might have been accentuated by the origin of iron from bodies of water, which were surrounded by strong beliefs and were often the focus of sacrificial depositions in this period. The qualities sought after in iron during the Bronze Age-Iron Age transition were in some ways different from those appreciated later in Iron Age and historical times. It is necessary to further consider early iron in its contemporary setting without comparison to the 'successful' adaptation in the late Pre-Roman Iron Age onwards.

Traces of bronze casting – fragmented moulds and crucibles - frequently occur at Late Bronze Age settlements. These traces are often assumed to represent utilitarian domestic production, in contrast to more specialised workshop production at ritual or elite locations. Moreover, settlements have often been reduced to overall production units, while actual arrangements of bronze casting within sites has remained unexplored. The aim of this paper is to provide new insight into the organization of metalworking from an empirical and ‘bottom up’ perspective by examining the spatial and social contexts of bronze casting. The analysis draws on ten excavated sites in south-eastern Sweden and addresses three spatial levels: site, setting and framing. The study shows that domestic arenas often hosted varied and complex metalworking staged at various indoor and outdoor hearths located in the core areas of settlements. Rather than being conceptualized as levels, the organization of Late Bronze Age metalworking was a multifaceted, communicative and user-oriented practice. These insights have consequences for excavation methods as well as for the interpretation of the role of metalworking in society

‘Workshops’ and ‘workshop production’ are central to archaeological understanding of metalworking in Bronze Age societies. In this article the concept of workshops is used as a starting point to review preconceptions about the social and spatial organisation of bronze crafting, focusing particularly on how it influences expectations of crafting evidence in the archaeological record. It argues that assumptions of a permanent, customised crafting place hosting the full manufacturing process, as often implied by the term ‘workshop’, are unsuitable for understanding the nature of bronze crafting in southern Scandinavia during the Late Bronze Age. Instead, drawing on evidence from south-eastern Sweden, the craft is characterised as flexible, embedded, and multi-locational. Furthermore, differences in crafting loci between ornaments and weapons are suggested to relate to the initiations of their intended bearers and to demonstrate the heterogeneous organisation of prestige goods production. Such user-oriented production provides an interesting example of the organisation of elite-motivated crafting outside the context of centralised states.