Resumen de Gone to smelt iron in Courland: technology transfer in the development of an early modern industry

Anton Parfentev, Raitis Upmalis, MĀrĪte JakovLeva, Dita AuziŅa, Rūdolfs Brūzis, Bernt Rundberget, Viktorija Bebre, Inga DoniŅa, Valda KĻava, Gvido Straube, Valdis Verzins, Arturs Viksna, Andris ActiŅš, Raimonds Meija, KonrĀds Popovs, Raitis Upmalis

• In the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, corresponding to the southern and western parts of present-day Latvia, an iron industry based on blast-furnace technology, mainly using local bog iron ore, existed in the 17th and 18th centuries. Transfer of knowledge and skill through the recruitment of specialists from other countries of Europe was crucial to the development of this industry; technology was also re-exported to Russia and elsewhere. Recent archaeological and archaeometallurgical investigations supplement the written evidence, highlighting the specific local conditions that influenced the development of ferrous metalworking here in the early modern period.