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| An original + VLFBERH + T sword, in the National Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark (HT: KPBS-Nat Geog) |
So, courtesy Nat Geog-Nova, a modern attempt to capture the lost art of the Ulfberht blade:
Where did the Vikings (or possibly a monastery or the like or a workshop . . . ) get crucible steel nigh on a millennium before Europeans . . . again? . . . learned the art? Was this steel a trade good from Persia? Or what? Why did it apparently disappear from the record or the practice of technology after 150 years or so? (Is this a lesson in how a trade secret can die out?)
Whatever the answer, let us respect the technology involved and understand what insightful trial and error can achieve. END
