Archaeology: A viking blacksmith

A thousand years ago, more or less, a norse blacksmith reached the end of his life-journey and at his funeral rites, his tools were buried with him. Now, archaeology found his burial place and the artefacts buried with him. The findings give us insight into the work and status of a blacksmith in the viking society of old.

The grave was composed of several layers. It seems, according to the archaeologists , that the placement of the artefacts in the grave signify a relative status. At the top it has been found the blacksmith tools. An axe was also found, along with a sword and some agricultural implements. Deeper down were the blacksmith’s personal items, including a razor, scissors (for trimming his beard, perhaps), tweezers, a frying pan and a poker. The grave contained about sixty artefacts. At the very bottom it was found the cremated remains of a human being – it was the blacksmith, of course. There were other personal items; some beads that had been attached to his clothing and a comb made of bone.

It may be possible that the blacksmith's contemporaries wished to show how skilful he was in his work by including such an extensive amount of objects; he might have forged many of these tools himself even. 

It is interesting to see that during the Viking Age, people still had great respect for blacksmiths. Tamers of fire, who could create objects controlling this wild and dangerous element, molding metal and making a perfect union between earth (the metals it gives), fire, and water and air (which are also needed while forging). The use of the four elements by one single person, and the control of those same elements; blacksmiths in old times must have been seen like some kind of sorcerers.

The joy of creating objects, by controlling the elements and using both strength and delicacy, must be a wonderful therapy.

Working with the gods: Andvari

As you all may know, the Duergar are the race of beings from Svartalfheim, but people know them better today as Dwarves. There is one particular spirit of the Duergar called Andvari, which i want to refer here as an important being. He is a great crafter and Smith so his teachings go directly with craft and money and also the worth of things. Blacksmithing has always been a profession with great value throughout human history, the forging of weapons, armour, tools, and all the things we need by working with fire and metals, so Andvari is the right spirit to work with if you love the art of making something, crafting it, the sound of the flames and the hammer beating the hot metal in the anvil.

There isn't much lore about Andvari, only the stories with Loki and how he stole Andvari's hoard and a cursed ring, or about Andvari being different from other Duergar, a dwarf very fond of humans, also being a traveller, wandering to and fro between realms. But he has many valuable lessons to teach, especially nowadays. We live in a world where most things lost their worth, our societies are filled with wastefulness, we consume everything we can get our hands on, and things seem to be granted, objects you get so easily today, we dont give them the proper worth, things that in ancient times were so valuable, we were careful not to ruin or break those things, even today there are lots of people in need of so many tools for their daily needs but they dont have the chance to get them and most of the times is because of money, and because we take everything for granted, and we lack of consciousness and we are so ignorant when it comes to the worth of things, we spent money in objects we don't really need, in a world of overconsumption. These are the things Andvari teaches us, and we in turn must teach our children, the worth of money, mindful consumption, the importance of things and how we benefit from them, the making of things and crafting them, the value we must give because some one had the work and the trouble to make them, and we must preserve these things, for exemple the tools to help farmers in their hard works, which in turn without those tools they wouldn't have food for themselves, their families and to the people they sell those products, and also those who buy the vegetables and fruits, must have conscious in where to spend their money, in what kind of things, would they rather spend the money in a television than in food for their survival? This is a very trivial exemple, just to make sure you follow the logic of Andvari's teachings. Having an appropriate resource management. never wasting food and other resources, always keeping in mind the worth of things and your money, buying and exchanging what you really need, balancing things, exchanging a pack of cigarettes for fruit, applying your money in the education of your children instead of buying a very expensive boat and so on...

We are all consumers, but most of the time we forget to give the proper value and worth, and we end up spending money on things that we do not really need.