Hollow comb rivets made from strip-drawn copper wire and two possible antler draw plates from 11th–12th c. Sigtuna, Sweden

Abstract

Modern metal wire is produced by drawing solid metal rods through a drawplate. Scandinavian smiths used this technique already during the Viking Age, but little is known about earlier Scandinavian methods for making metal wire. It has previously been suggested that the metal rivets in composite bone and antler combs may have been hollow and produced by strip-drawing, but no metallurgical studies have so far been carried out to investigate this possibility