9 aug. 2023

Ancient finds confirm the sagas

A side view of the 39-millimeter-long arrowhead.
Bern History Museum.
According to CNN there are only three known meteorites with a similar chemical composition in Europe, but researchers say that the most likely source was one in Kaalijarv, Estonia, as the meteorite hit around 1500 BC and it produced many small fragments.
The nearly 3,000-year-old artifact was created with iron from a meteorite that landed in Estonia, the study noted. This indicates that meteoritic iron was traded in Europe by 800 BC or earlier, the researchers said, adding how unusual it is to find meteoritic iron used so early in history.

The crossing of the Gulf of Pohja sea is estimated
 to have taken place around 800, art by Akseli Gallen-Kallela
.
At the time, humans had not yet started to smelt iron from oxide ores, but some metallic iron could be found in the impact fields of meteorites, according to the study.
Otherwise,
Archaeologists have also find a 3,000-year-old sword in Poland, that is so well preserved it's still gleaming. 

The saga in which Lemminkäinen forged weapons from iron that fell from the sky was left out of the Finnish national epic Klavela (the ancient Finns still inhabited present-day Estonia and Saare County).



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