1
Iron
PETER HAARER
Iron was a fundamental material in antiquity
from the first millennium BCE onward.
However, the metal and its role are often mis-
understood, not least because ancient smiths
did not leave texts, iron survives poorly in
archaeological deposits, and past lack of schol-
arly interest perpetuates further neglect.
Misconceptions therefore arise (e.g., that iron
was cast) and, due to its mystery, iron
can be invoked easily to explain puzzles (e.g.,
V. G. Childe on Hittite success and collapse: for
critique see Drews 1993: 736). However,
although archaeoferrology remains underde-
veloped compared with its non-ferrous cousins,
important studies are available. In particular,
archaeology by experiment informed by ethno-
graphic analogy and coupled with metallo-
graphic analysis has provided major insights
(e.g., Crew and Salter on iron production in
Iron Age and Roman Britain).
Deposits of iron ores worked in antiquity
tended to be smaller than those exploited today
and fairly ubiquitous. Ores were crushed and
roasted before being loaded with fuel (wood or
charcoal) into carefully constructed furnaces for
smelting (a process in which the iron is chemi-
cally reduced from its oxides and separated off
from impurities (gangue) in the ore). At no
time did the metal become molten, as ancient
furnaces could not reach the temperatures
required (1,538  C for pure iron), but instead
small globules of metal formed and conglomer-
ated loosely together into a bloom. Blooms
were compacted by hammering into billets (the
word ingot is wrong) and often forged into
semi-finished shapes to demonstrate the quality
and properties of the metal (e.g., currency bars
in Iron Age Britain, though these were not in fact
used as a favored form of pre-coinage money:
see Crew 1994). Further smithing, mostly at red
heat, was required to make finished artifacts.
Smelting and smithing did not need to be
performed at the same locations, or by the
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,
and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 34983500.
2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah06182
same technicians. Smelting was most efficient if
carried out in proximity to ores and fuel to avoid
needless transportation of unwanted waste
products or bulky low-density fuels. However,
blooms, billets, and semi-finished products
could be conveyed elsewhere for conversion
into finished artifacts (see, e.g., Salter 1989 and
Crew 1995 on the organization of iron produc-
tion in Iron Age Britain).
Iron tends to be discussed in highly generic
terms, but in reality varied tremendously in
antiquity (as now) in terms of quality and met-
allurgical properties. Ores could include trace
elements which could impart useful properties,
and smelting conditions could foster the
absorption of carbon (or phosphorous) which
would result in hard steel alloys. The craft of the
blacksmith would determine the extent to
which voids left by pockets of gases arising dur-
ing smelting were closed, slag (impurities from
the ore) was extruded (squeezed out), and the
heterogeneous properties of different parts of
the bloom were redistributed evenly throughout
the metal or concentrated in particular areas if
required. There is evidence for the use of carbu-
rization, quenching, and tempering to manipu-
late the properties of the finished object.
However, the degree to which such processes
were understood by smiths remains debatable
and it seems indicative that the earliest ancient
textual reference to quenching as a means of
hardening iron is described using the Greek
verb pharmassein (Hom. Od. 9.393), a word
with connotations of sorcery.
Variation in quality and properties, as well
as trade in objects representing different stages
of the production process, must surely go some
way to explaining the wide range of ancient
prices quoted for iron in ancient texts (see, e.g.,
Powell 1990). However, the value of iron, espe-
cially in the Aegean world during the first half of
the first millennium BCE, has been under-
estimated catastrophically by following unre-
liable ancient testimonia for the use of iron
obeloi (roasting spits) as pre-coinage money,
and postulating that a standard iron obelos of
ca. 2,000 g was equivalent in value to one
2
Aeginetan silver obol of ca. 1 g, giving a ratio of
exchange of ca. 2,000:1 (discussed in Haarer
2001: 2578). Instead, evidence drawn from
across the eastern Mediterranean indicates that
iron was considerably more valuable, and that in
the Greek world even by the fifth century BCE the
most expensive iron was worth only about 100
times less than silver and had roughly the same
value as bronze (Powell 1990; Treister 1996;
Haarer 2001).
SEE ALSO: Bronze; Economy, Greek; Mines,
mining, Greek and Roman; Spits.
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Crew, P. (1991) The experimental production
of prehistoric bar iron. Historical Metallurgy 15.
1: 2136.
Crew, P. (1994) Currency bars in Great Britain,
typology and function. In M. Mangin, ed., La
siderurgie ancienne de lEst de la France dans son
contexte europeen, Archeologie et archeometrie:
34550. Paris.
Crew, P. (1995) Aspects of the iron supply. In
B. W. Cunliffe, ed., Danebury, an Iron Age hillfort
in Hampshire, vol. 6: A hillfort community in
perspective: 27684. York.
Drews R. (1993) The end of the Bronze Age,
changes in warfare and the catastrophe of ca.
1200 BC. Princeton.
Haarer, P. S. (2001) Problematising the transition
from bronze to iron. In A. Shortland, ed.,
The social context of technological change: 25573.
Oxford.
Powell, M. A. (1990) Identification and inter-
pretation of long term price fluctuations in
Babylonia: more on the history of money in
Mesopotamia. Altorientalische Forschungen 17:
7799.
Salter, C. J. (1989) The scientific investigation
of the iron industry in Iron Age Britain. In
J. Henderson, ed., Scientific analysis in archaeology
and its interpretation: 25073. Oxford.
Treister, M. Y. (1996) The role of metals in ancient
Greek History. Leiden.