Iron Smelting - Free

Staff and students from the Dept of Archaeology (University of Sheffield) will be dealing with their own kinds of ‘Hot Rocks' when they attempt to reconstruct the ancient craft of iron smelting. Using locally available resources and knowledge revealed from archaeological excavations the team will demonstrate the ancient art of converting stones into swords! Whether they succeed or fail will depend on the good will of the furnace Gods and the assistance of the public to help out pumping bellows, charging ore, and preparing charcoal. Success is not guaranteed but if it is then it will be the first time that bloomery iron will have been smelted in Sheffield for about half a millennium; all in all it has the makings of a real cliff hanger!