Arctic hunter-gatherers were advanced ironworkers more than 2,000 years ago
Excavations uncovered furnaces and fire pits for metalworking in what’s now northeastern Sweden
![a bronze buckle shown from the front and back](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/120922_bb_artic-iron_feat.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
Discoveries from northeastern Sweden, including this molded bronze buckle (front and back shown), have uncovered advanced iron production and metalworking among hunter-gatherers who lived there more than 2,000 years ago.
S. Nygren, © Norrbottens Museum, Carina Bennerhag et al/Antiquity 2021 (CC BY 4.0)