Frühe Eisenverhüttung bei Glienick

In the course of a DFG-funded project, the organisation of iron smelting and iron working in the Jastorf culture was characterised for the first time. The project focused on the Teltow area, a morainic landscape south of Berlin which offers diverse natural resources. The excavation of a settlement of the Pre-Roman Iron Age near Glienick revealed bloomeries and several metric tons of smelting slag, indicating large-scale iron production. The bloomeries showed a very particular construction and functional principle and have been named “Glienick type” after the site at which they were first recognised. A series of experiments using this type of furnace succeeded in replicating iron production in this type of bloomery. Extensive smithing residue from the Iron Age settlement shows that iron working took place in close connection with iron production. Metallurgical activities were carried out within the settlement, which was otherwise characterised by a subsistence economy based on agriculture. Following the study of surrounding sites with a similar structure, a model for the organisation of the iron supply in the region during the Pre-Roman Iron Age was developed. A comparison with the Roman Iron Age shows that there was no linear development of iron production. Rather, a break was observed at the end of the Pre-Roman Iron Age and the system was restructured; subsequently, the necessary iron was partly imported. This volume presents the archaeological evidence, supplemented by several scientific analyses. These include the discussion of a pollen profile from Lake Rangsdorf, which amongst others provides a detailed insight into settlement development from the Middle Bronze Age to the Early Roman Period.