Iron was massively exploited during the Viking Age, and it played a major role in the Norse expansion in northern Europe and across North Atlantic. Based on the countless metallurgical remains in Scandinavia, the current model of ironmaking in the Viking Age assumes that iron was almost exclusively produced in the modern-day Norway and Sweden, then traded to other Norse communities or carried through migrations. However, only a limited number of studies have investigated the provenance of Norse iron discovered outside Scandinavia, and the current model does not take into account the numerous remains of iron production uncovered in Iceland, where more than a hundred sites have been identified. Using a geochemical approach to metal provenancing, the VIPICE project investigates iron production in Iceland during the Viking Age and its circulation across the North Atlantic region, testing the hypothesis that surplus Icelandic iron supported substantial trade with other Norse communities. Trace element analyses of Norse iron artefacts discovered in Iceland, combined with isotopic analyses of Sr, Hf, and Nd, allow the determination of the specific geochemical signature of iron produced in Iceland. Moreover, analyses performed on artefacts from Norse settlements across the North Atlantic region are used to detect the potential presence of Icelandic iron. Our results reveal the coexistence of intensive iron production in Iceland alongside iron imports from Scandinavia. However, no evidence has so far been found for the export of iron from Iceland to Norse communities in Greenland, although the limited number of artefacts analysed calls for further studies on Norse iron provenancing. Overall, this project has laid the foundation for iron provenancing in the North Atlantic and suggests a complex pattern of iron production and trade during the Viking period in this region.
