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Artikeln presenterar Masterprogrammet i kulturarvsstudier vid Konstvetenskapliga institutionen, Stockholms universitet.

Iron production at Tvååker in Halland. A concluding discussion about Järnmöllan Gert Magnusson A water powered iron production, Järnmöllan, an iron mill near Tvååker village in Halland was mentioned 1197 in a deed of gift from the archbishop Absalon to the Sorö monastery in Sealand. The original document has been lost, but several copies from the 13th and 15th centuries are still existant. The main issues of the project were to discuss where Järnmöllan was situated, when its was working, what technique that was used and by whom it was run. In order to discuss the technique used at Järnmöllan in early medieval times, the dating of the remains of the iron production at Södra Järnvirke, another locality mentioned in the medieval document, as well as the nearby site at the stream of Sanda on the border between Ugglehult and Dövared were important. The work in the project has followed several steps. The first was a close reading of the Latin text of the medieval documents, which led to the realisation that the iron production at Järnmöllan never seemed to have been a part of Absalons property. The water powered technique was most certainly developed within the farming community. An inmportant question was if the modern locality named Järnmölle not far from Tvååker could be the medieval production site. However, no slags were found at Järnmölle or its vicinity and the rapids, no more than about a meter height, seemed too small for such a site. Neither did the test excavations that were undertaken reveal any remains of iron production. Through the slag finds at Järnvirke and Ugglehult/Dövared, it was concluded that at least two different techniques had been in use, namely a water powered forge combined with a water power bloomery production. At Järnvirke two bloomery furnaces were found by a large slag heap, along with another unusually large slag heap, which also was excavated. No bloomery furnaces were found at this second site, but the slag showed that the bloomery

Järnmöllan in Tvååker. Introduction and background of the project By Gert Magnussen For almost a century the iron mill, Järnmöllan at Tvååker in Halland on the west coast in SW Sweden has been known and discussed. One of the oldest documents about water powered iron production in Europe from 1197, reveals that Järnmöllan was a donation from Absalon, the archbishop of Lund, to the friars of Sorö in Sealand. The discussions have focussed on two main hypotheses: one being that Järnmöllan was a forge, the other that it was a reduction furnace, where the smiths had produced wrought iron out of limonite ore. The interest of the site is due to the fact that the introduction of water power is consideret one of the most important steps towards an increase in iron production and industrialised society. Though the few written documents known from the 13th century was thoroughly analysed, the question of the nature of Järnmöllan remained unsolved. In the 1980s, however, surveys for ancient monuments in the area of Tvååker, revealed some ten sites with ancient slags. From the medieval documents the area of Absalon’s donation could be reconstructed. Within the suggested location one larger site with large slag heaps was found. Could this site be the one mentioned in the medieval documents? If so. would it be possible to shed some new light on the old question about Järnmöllan, the, in written sources, oldest known water powered iron production? In the 1990s a iterdisciplinary research group was set up lead by Hans Andersson, professor in archaeology. The other members were the archaeologists Gert Magnusson, Bo Strömberg and Jens Vellev, the human geographers Per Connelid och Catarina Masher, the historian Rikke Agnete Olsen and the metallurgist Vagn Buchwald. The fieldwork was carried out 1993-95. The source material consisted of four different types: the written document, the remains of furnaces and other constructions in the river valley, the reconstruction of the landscap

När E22 projektet startade för tre år sedan, var det slutet på en lång tid av utredanden om vägsträckningens läge och miljökonsekvenser. Pro­jektet påverkades helt av de förändrade villkor, som 1997 års ändring av Kulturminneslagen innebar, med kravet på att exploaterings­arkeologiska undersökningar ska bedrivas i form av god vetenskap.

Männens arbetsuppgifter har varit mer cykliska än kvinnors. De kvinnliga arbetsuppgifterna skulle skötas dagligen, rutinmässigt.Trots kvinnornas osynlighet i historien är det deras arbeten som gett det mänskliga samhället dess djup och mångfald.

The bloomery furnace technigue suited the kind of society existing in Jämtland and Härjedalen during prehistoric times and right down to the nineteenth century. This theses is based upon different sources in order to study the importance and changes in iron production in the area. The ancient monuments inventory has made it possible to deduce in which areas ironworking was conducted on a significant scale. Written sources and place names do not really contradict the inventory findings in any way, but some areas appear to be under-represented. Altogether we have 431 known sites in Jämtland and 290 in Härjedalen. On 19 of theese archaeological investigations have been made. Three main types of furnace occur in the material: 1. clay-lined pit furnace, 2. clay-lined shaf furnace and dry-stone walled pit furnace. The third type is most common in both Jämtland and Härjedalen. The radion carbon method gives us an undirect data for the operation of blommery furnaces. This indicates two main horizons for the ironworking, a prehistoric horizon, spanning from 200 B.C. to 1200 A.D., and a more recent horizon between about 1050-1850. The older horizon is shore-bound and mainly confined to Storsjön. The great majority of the later sites are in forest areas, directly adjoining wetlands. Situated in an attempt to reconstruct models of the iron working a retrospective approach has been adopted in order to identify the social sphere. The iron production during the Migration Period in Jämtland probably formed part of a redistributive system in which this area were exploited from Medelpad, Hälsingland or Tröndelagen. This has been considered previously, in view of the large number of spadeshaped billets., Med sammanfattning på engelska