Studien har genomförts på ett antal stålplåtar från olika kulturhistoriska byggnader. När kulturhistoriskt värdefulla byggnader ska renoveras måste detta göras med så god kunskap som möjligt om byggnadens olika delar och de värden dessa representerar. Det problem som studien har ämnat att lösa har varit en bristande kunskap om historiska stålplåtar. Studien har därför utförts för att bidra med kunskap som kan användas när gamla byggnader ska renoveras.För att uppnå syftet att bidra med kunskap som kan vägleda renovering av kulturhistoriska byggnader har studiens mål varit att undersöka hur de olika plåtarna tillverkats och vilka resultat de processerna har fått.Detta har genomförts genom att utföra en metallografi på samtliga prover för att undersöka deras mikrostrukturer och få en förståelse för materialen. Även en kemisk analys av materialens innehåll har gjorts genom en optisk emissions spektroskopi.De resultat som hämtades från plåtarna visade hur stor skillnad det var mellan olika tillverkningsmetoder och deras konsekvenser. Genom att ha sett den mångfald av egenskaper som fanns bland plåtarna har slutsatserna dragits att det finns ett värde i att respektera de äldre materialen.Genom att vara medveten om att det kan finnas stora skillnader i materialen kan valet av plåt göras på ett bättre sätt. Under studiens gång blev det även uppenbart hur mycket historia som fanns lagrad i de gamla plåtarna som är viktig att ta vara på. / The study has been conducted on a number of steel plates from different buildings of cultural and historical value. When old, cultural buildings are to be renovated, it must be done with as much knowledge as possible about the different parts of the building and the values that they represent. The problem that the study has aimed to solve has been an inadequate level of knowledge in regards to historical steel plates. Because of this, the study has been conducted to contribute with knowledge that could be used when old buildings are to be renovated.To achieve the purpose of contributing knowledge to guide renovations of culturally and historically valuable buildings, the goal of the study has been to analyze how the different plates have been made and what the results of those processes were.This has been carried out by conducting a metallography on all of the samples to analyze their microstructures and to gain an understanding of the materials. A chemical analysis has also been conducted on the contents of the materials by using optical emission spectroscopy.The results showed how big of a difference there was between different manufacturing methods and their consequences. By discovering the diversity of the properties of the plates the conclusion has been drawn that there is value in respecting the values of the older materials.By being conscious of how large the difference is between different types of steel sheets, better decisions can be made during choice of steel sheet, and it is more obvious how much history that is stored within the old plates.

The Gotlandic smith has been depicted on several picture stones and is a subject of fear and respect in the Old Norse sagas. Their technological prowess can be identified through their skilful work and through the stories told about them, but one must delve deeper to identify the smith-craft itself. This thesis seeks to apply the practice of bone-smithing on the osteological material from the Gotlandic site of “Signallottan” located about a kilometre southeast of the Hanseatic walled city of Visby, a site which was excavated in 2018 to get a broader understanding of the site’s previous uses. In addition to this, an osteological and spatial analysis will be carried out to identify the role of the smith and the use of bones in smithing, as well as a literature study of texts depicting or discussing the smith from the perspective of the Icelandic sagas. The thesis will focus on the application of theoretical frameworks with their basis in materiality, agency, and entanglement to interpret what activities can be identified in Signallottan through the current analyses in correlation with the extensive previous identification of osteological material from the site. This thesis will seek to identify the animal species that are present in the osteological material as well as the degree of cremation of the bones, which could imply that bones were used in smithing practice and ritual during the Viking Age. Around 2,5kg of bones were analysed during the thesis, a majority of which were burnt. The spatial analysis of the site, which was carried out through GIS, reveals a connection between finds of iron, slag, and bone together with oxide scale to form the interpretation of the site as having been used for smithing, that may have used bone as fuel during the carbonisation-process. The smithing practices during the Viking Age are deemed to be a supernaturally connected practice with transformative implications of seiðr, old Norse magic, but are also practices that were highly dependent on the craftsman’s skill and a network of trade to receive the materials necessary for larger-scale production in an agricultural society.

This study concerns the examinations of archaeological steel-objects from the Iron Ages, found in Tortuna outside Västerås, Sweden. Not many metallurgical analyses have been made on steel objects from the Iron Ages, most likely in order to preserve the findings. Therefore, very little knowledge about old steel materials exists.The main goal of this study was to investigate how steel-made items from the Iron Ages were created, what they have been used for, and determine what kind of metallurgical knowledge the blacksmiths of the Iron Ages had. The experiments were conducted with light optical microscopy in order to investigate the morphology of the materials and with Vickers hardness test, to investigate the hardness of the materials. The investigation gave varying results for the different iron-made objects. All of the objects have been forged in some way. Most of the objects, were made of heterogeneous low carbon steel with a mainly ferritic structure. Some items also showed a martensitic structure with a ferritic core, which concludes that the smiths probably knew how to quench and temper steel. Due to heavy corrosion on many ofthe items, further investigation is needed to strengthen the conclusions made in this report. / Denna studie behandlar undersökningar av arkeologiska stålobjekt från järnåldern,hittade i Tortuna utanför Västerås, Sverige. Det har inte gjorts många metallurgiska analyser på stålobjekt från järnåldern, troligen för att bevara föremålen. Därför finnsdet lite kunskap om gamla stålmaterial. Huvudsyftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur föremål i stål från järnåldern tillverkades, vad de har använts för och bestämma vilken typ av metallurgisk kunskap dåtiens smed besatt. Experimenten utfördes med hjälp av ljus optisk mikroskop för att undersöka materialets morfologi och med hjälp av Vickers hårdhetsprov för att undersöka materialens hårdhet. Undersökningen gav olika resultat för föremålen. Alla föremål är smidda på något sätt. De flesta föremålen bestod av heterogent kolstål med huvudsakligen ferritisk struktur. Vissa föremål visade också en martensitisk struktur med en ferritisk kärna,vilket visar på att smeden troligen visste hur man härdar och anlöper stål. På grund av stor korrosion på många av föremålen krävs ytterligare analyser för att stärka slutsatserna i denna rapport.