Fire (2/2)

Fire (2/2) - The Experiments

While the archaeology provides evidence for the use of firesteels, and there is linguistic evidence for the continued use of friction-fire in the Migration Period and Viking Age, there is little archaeological information to aid reconstruction of the full fire-lighting process which likely required a range of specially prepared materials, allowing cool sparks to be nursed to roaring flames.

To fill these gaps in knowledge it is necessary to experiment with techniques and materials that would have been locally available at the time, taking inspiration from modern bushcraft techniques and, importantly, other cultures from similar ecoregions (with similar materials available) which have maintained traditional firelighting skills that may be similar to those used by our ancestors.    

Our investigation into the fire-making process is ongoing, and we do not claim to be experts with respect to such techniques. However, we have attempted a number of experiments with locally available materials, informed by available information on modern bushcraft fire-lighting, and the techniques employed by other traditional cultures. It is worthwhile discussing the feasibility of many of the materials traditionally used, in terms of their availability or value in a rural Migration-Age West- European context, and their effectiveness when prepared using the technology available at the time.

Fire (1 /2)

Fire  (1/2)

Fire has played a hugely important role in the lives of human beings since prehistory. Though the importance of fires for providing essential warmth, and facilitating cooking is both obvious and difficult to overstate, the almost ubiquitous social practice of gathering around a fire was likely crucial to the forming of social bonds within early communities.   As anyone who has wild-camped, or spent a dark night in a reconstructed hall will tell you, the dancing flames of a hearth fire often have the miraculous effect of  banishing discomfort, creating wellbeing, and bringing people together.
Yet fire can also turn against us; burn, kill, or swallow homes and settlements whole. Fire is an essential yet treacherous friend, and, for this reason, our relationship with fire has always been a complicated one.

Given the importance of fires for life, and community, and taking into account its treacherous nature, the study of historic cultures' relationships with fire is particularly fascinating. How did our ancestors view fire? How did they make it? And to what extent did they understand the mechanisms which underpin this essential tool?

In this series we examine the techniques likely used by the Anglo-Saxons and "Vikings" to make fire and the evidence for them, and discuss snippets of mythology pertaining to fire which give us glimpses of these cultures' understanding. We, further, present some findings from our own experiments with historic fire-making using widely available, forage-able materials.