15th – 16th century iron sheet off-cuts

[Paul Rondelez]

Hi all,

An assemblage excavated within one of the towers at Dublin Castle and dated to the 15th to 16th centuries includes several hundred off-cuts of sheet iron (see attached). Most are triangular, many with at least one curving edge, while others are strips or rectangular in shape.

I have found comparable material which was excavated at 13th to 16th century Thaxted, Essex (Pooley 2016) where the material is interpreted as the waste of knife production. Two Iron Age sites in France have the same type of material interpreted similarly.

The assemblage includes curiously similar off-cuts of non-ferrous sheet (attached on follow up post).

Would anybody know of other comparable assemblages or possible alternative interpretations?

Thanks!

Paul

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[Paul Rondelez]

The copper-alloy off-cuts

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[Lee Sauder]

What is the general thickness?

I don’t like the interpretation of offcuts from knife production. Knifes are generally forged to shape, not cut.

[Paul Rondelez]

Hi Lee,

About 2 to 3mm, original thickness. Blades was also Jamie Smith’s (Irish bladesmith) first unprompted guess, ‘when quickly making lots of them’.

Paul

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