Charcoal and Iron Production at and around Zutphen (ad 850–1200)

Abstract

The rich material from the excavations in the borough of Zutphen show that it was a centre of metal production in Late Carolingian times. Substantial quantities of iron but also of lead and copper alloy/bronze were worked at house plot 1 dating to the second half of the ninth century. Some of the metal were brought to Zutphen from far away as raw materials. It is suggested that some (stannite) was imported from England. The organization of production changed considerably around ad 900 when the focus of production was no longer in Zutphen itself but in the surrounding countryside. Huge quantities of charcoal were produced in the forests surrounding Zutphen in the ninth and early tenth centuries as is testified by the evidence of the Looërenk excavations. The rise in metal (especially iron) production in the region is part of a supra-regional development leading to a move of iron production from the Veluwe region to the territories east of the IJssel. Because the emergence of the iron production coincides with the creation of the oppidum Zutphen it is suggested that the king and the counts of Hamaland were involved in the organization of charcoal and iron industries.