The thesis project "At the anvil and out of the crucible" deals with the complex metal crafts of the Iron Age, its actors and landscape and economic conditions. The project analyzes metal craft sites where traces of several different types of metal crafts can be documented. Are different types of metal crafts or metal handling spatially separated or do they occur together? What role did the metalworking sites play in the overall cultural landscape of the Scandinavian Iron Age and the socio-economic climate it reflects? These basic questions are addressed by analyzing raw materials, production and waste products, and how these are distributed in the landscape. The results are then interpreted from perspectives derived from economic theory and socio-economic interpretation of society. Metals and metal crafts have always played a central role in the interpretation of the Iron Age social structure. The project At the anvil and out of the crucible tests many long-established models of the Iron Age socio-economic structure, while adding new perspectives on the actors involved in metal handling - from producers, to distributors and finally consumers - to the picture of Scandinavian Iron Age society.