Speakers Series 2026 – Darrell Markewitz
Making Iron
Bloomery Iron Smelting in Canada
Just how do you take natural ores and render them down into working metal bars? Since 2001, artisan blacksmith Darrell Markewitz has sought to recover lost methods of bloomery iron smelting at his Wareham (lower Grey County) workshop. His work began with the exploration of the art of smelting in the Viking Age, initially a project for Parks Canada at L’Anse aux Meadows NHSC. His investigations have grown to 100 experimental firings and led to conference presentations, academic papers, and project work in Canada, the US, Europe, and Scotland. A much-experienced presenter, his talk will also serve as the book launch for 20 Years Before the Blast: Experimental Bloomery Iron Smelting 2001–2024.
There are not many traditional skills that draw a crowd they way a working blacksmith does. For older people, the smith rekindles childhood memories of a simpler time. For the children, there is the fascination of seeing glowing metal being shaped. For adults, there is keen interest in the technology and history of the trade. In our modern world, the blacksmith, once a necessity to the community, has all but disappeared.
from the Hammer and Hand Blog
Darrell Markewitz first lit a forge while an art student in the later 1970’s, and has been a professional Artisan Blacksmith since the late 1980’s, starting the Wareham Forge in 1992. Over the decades hundreds of students have been introduced to ‘the ancient art and mystery of the smith’ through his workshop courses. Along with private commissions, architectural projects and domestic objects, he has specialized in ‘historic reproductions in metals’, a focus being objects from the Viking Age. He designed, built and implemented the Norse Encampment living history program for Parks Canada at L’Anse aux Meadows NHSC, also serving as a consultant on a number of major international museum exhibits. Since 2001 a special area of research has been bloomery iron smelting via experimental archaeology.
Along with his massive web site and extensive blog (since 2006) he has been a presenter at various academic conferences, with a number of formally published papers to his credit.
Roughly 1000 years ago, a group of Norse Greenlanders explored modern day Canada’s Atlantic shores under the leadership of Leif Eirikson, a land he named Vinland. They established a base camp on the extreme northern tip of Newfoundland, at a place now called L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. One significant activity undertaken there was the smelting of local bog iron ore into a metallic bloom.
But how exactly was this done?
Independent researcher Darrell Markewitz would lead a team from the Dark Ages Re-Creation Company through a number of attempts to investigate Viking Age methods of bloomery iron smelting. This report details a total of fourteen full smelting experiments, running from 2001 through 2022, with the primary series of five over 2009 – 2010. Individual tests are described in their chronological order, also discussing how a deeper understanding of both bloomery iron smelting, and what the Norse did in Vinland, was developed. Richly illustrated with photographs and fully referenced, including direct links to the detailed data on individual experiments.
The muted ring of the hammer.
The nostalgic smell of coal smoke.
The ancient mystery of the blacksmith.