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Thora is carving an oil lamp out of a lump of soapstone, a very soft type of stone found in Scandinavia as well as Canada. The Norse used soapstone (also known as steatite) for a variety of purposes, including cooking pots, spindle whorls, and loom weights. There is even an example of a soapstone bead, but they are rare. When the Norse settled in Iceland, they used soft volcanic rocks for lamps and loom weights because soapstone is not found there. Previous Report Next Text © Neil Peterson, 2017 Photographs © Darrell Markewitz, 2017 Copyright details Contact us |