56: Polygonal masonry at Selets Bruk and at Moholt in Scandinavia

 

By Linden Alexander Pentecost, published on the 10^th of March 2025. Published in the UK. This article is relatively short and discusses two iron smelting sites in Scandinavia, both of which exhibit polygonal masonry, connected topics including the possibility of more ancient iron-mining cultures being behind these structures, and informtion about the stallo, their use of iron and other topics, for example Bal and Ballangen, which I have discussed in a lot of detail elsewhere. At the end of the article are many comments on some of the author's other recent publications and a planned future publications for the near future. This article contains 1282 words. This article contains some in-text references.

 

Selets Bruk is an industrial archaeological site not far from Luleå in Northern Sweden. One of the structures at the site is an iron smelting kiln, likely 18th century in origin, at least, officially speaking. What is unusual about this iron smelting kiln is that its structure exhibits polygonal masonry, the stone blocks being at unusual angles but all fitting perfectly together. The example of polygonal masonry at Selets Bruk is not as sophisticated or quite as well fitting at more famous examples of polygonal masonry, in for example Peru, Egypt and Japan. But nevertheless I have never seen a structure of this kind anywhere else in Sweden. I have not yet been to the site myself however and have only identified the polygonal masonry from photos. Is it possible that this structure is older than the rest of the site, and was built by a more ancient culture, if so, what culture? Note that I have already discussed some examples of polygonal masonry in Finland, in my article on this website titled: 47: The root “häme” - “Suomi” - “samay” and polygonal masonry in Finland, the link to which is here: https://www.bookofdunbarra.co.uk/website-articles-46-55/47-the-root-haeme-suomi-samay-and-polygonal-masonry-in-finland

Near Larvik in southern Norway, another iron smelting mill at Moholt also exhibits polygonal masonry, some of which appears of the same quality as that at Selets Bruk. As far as I know, these are the only examples of true polygonal masonry in Norway and Sweden combined. In the aforementioned article, 47: The root “häme” - “Suomi” - “samay” and polygonal masonry in Finland, as well as mentioning polygonal masonry at Hämeenlinna, I also mention briefly the polygonal masonry at Bormarsund Fortress, not in Finland as such but in the Åland Islands. The polygonal masonry at Bomarsund is however of a different type to the examples at Hämeenlinna, Selets Bruk and Moholt near Larvik. The polygonal masonry at the Selets Bruk and Moholt iron smelting mills/furnaces is more similar between the two sites, to that at Hämeenlinna in Finland.
As with Selets Bruk, I do not know, if with regards to the polygonal masonry at Moholt, that there is any possibility that this and the structure at Selets Bruk might be older than we think, perhaps belonging to some more ancient iron-mining culture, and that perhaps these polygonal masonry structures were merely re-used in the 18th century. Iron mining did already take place in parts of Norway during the Iron Age. It is also possible that iron mining was taking place in Lapland in the north at an earlier date than we currently know, especially considering the massive reserves of magnetite ore, found not far from Luleå.

That these two structures exist in Norway and Sweden, may imply that there are other such sites. Whilst other iron smelting mills and their kilns in Norway and Sweden exhibit some useage of large stone slabs, none of the others that I have seen show ”true” polygonal masonry.

Þjalar-Jóns saga, as translated by Philip Lavender, in his book Þjalar-Jóns saga: A Translation and Introduction, implies the existence of giants in a land far to the north. This is something I have talked about before, without employing Þjalar-Jóns saga as a reference, but this source does seem very specific about there being a “land of giants”. Sámi traditions also imply the existence of giant ancestors, perhaps not Sámi, nor Kainulaiset nor Norse people. As I have discussed elsewhere, the “Stallo” is a more macabre figure in Sámi oral history, but stallo are associated with the metal iron. I do not know the origins of the stallo according to Sámi history, but they are generally considered as bad beings. And yet, they are also associated with metal objects, and I do not believe that bad things can truly create anything. Therefore, perhaps the “stallos” came from an older culture that was not bad, and who had the ability to create things from metal, which the stallos later inherited. I am not sure, and this is purely speculative. But theoretically, the existence of an older, iron-using culture in Scandinavia, could help to shed light on the polygonal masonry structures at Selets Bruk and Moholt; and could furthermore perhaps shed light upon the connection between the “stallos” and their connection with iron; if the stallos, their use of iron, and the polygonal masonry structures at Selets Bruk and Moholt come from some earlier iron-using culture. This is not to imply however that polygonal masonry structures have to have anything to do with giants, as I think the methods of building them vary, and can have far more bizarre accoustic-related origins, unconnected to giants. In some other publications I have also talked about how the figure "Bal", a tyrant miner connected with Ballangen in Norway, may be an example of a stallo, and I think that the legend could be much older than thought. This, as I implied previously may also imply the existence of an older mining culture in Norway, and I think it likely that "Bal" may have been a stallo, and that the timeline regarding this story may have been confused. I have also been to Bal's smelting area near Ballangen, which, as I have discussed, contains large megalithic-like stones, but no polygonal masonry. Was this site really created by Bal, or was it again, connected to an older culture, that "stallos" later inherited?

 

Article written in honour of my friends in the north and to all those I love. May this blessing be a spell of protection. Note that in the near future I hope to publish a Silly Linguistics article on the Lule Bondska and Lule Sámi languages (spoken near Selets Bruk), perhaps I will include a photo of Selets Bruk from wikimedia commons in that article. I have published separate materials on Lule Bondska elsewhere, separate to that which I hope to have published in Silly Linguistics. I would also like to publish more on stallos in the near future, and in addition, I recently wrote and finally some articles on one of my other websites called Clwàideac na Cuinne, one is related to the Upper and Lower Kalix Bondska languages, the Kiruna dialect of Swedish and the Borgarmål language; the article is titled: 1-n: Re-Introducing Bondska, The two Kalix languages, the Kiruna dialect & Borgarmål ( this is not the article currently in front of you). Another I have completed on this other website is titled: 1-f. On the Finnish language with trees, flowers, moths and butterflies. I will also mention that my most recent Silly Linguistics publication concerns the pre-Norse and Norse language and other language topics in relation to the Isle of Barra, titled: Norse & pre-Norse language around the Isle of Barra, the last Norsemen in the Hebrides, and linguistic comments, and art, relating to a mysterious dream on Barra, published in Silly Linguistics magazine issue #81, February 2025. The aforementioned article is unrelated to my other publications pertaining to the Norse on Barra.