1/29/20 Raphael Morgenshtern Period 8

1/29/20

Raphael Morgenshtern

Period 8

#21

Today in class we started with the beloved vocabulary quiz. Hopefully we all did well. After that Mrs. Fusaro played us a special by National Geographic about an ancient weapon of the vikings called Ulfberht. The historical context the video gave was brilliantly displayed, how these swords were hailed as the top of the line, were very important for an advantage in battle, and for a warriors chances of getting to Valhalla. The presentation brought in a direct connection to the way we look at cars today, signs of wealth and top line performance that we all hope to have. 

Ulfberht was a particular kind of sword, so unique that it was considered to be magical. The steel swords of the time were all brittle because of the ore left in the material, Ulfberht however, was the polar opposite. This sword was almost pure iron and carbon, a feat of engineering unknown to any other blacksmiths at the time. So amazing, that even today we have trouble figuring out exactly how they accomplished the creation of the weapon. 

The special then continued to take us on a journey of a modern blacksmith, swordsman, and historian trying to reverse engineer the swords creation to make a full replica from scratch. With just 170 Ulfberht swords found, all in horrible condition, this was extremely difficult. We got to see the blacksmith start the crucible for the iron to separate from the ore and harden with the carbon, sadly that was when the period had ended. Nevertheless, this gave me an entirely new outlook on the standard weapons were held to in these times of history, and for that the class was an amazing experience that I walked away from learning something new.