Journal of Archaeological Research· 2019Q1· Review
The Innovation and Adoption of Iron in the Ancient Near East
- 110citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2019year
Short summary
Iron metallurgy originated in Anatolia on a small scale in the early 2nd millennium BC, with its major expansion across the Near East occurring in the late 2nd and early 1st millennium BC.
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Key points
- Iron metallurgy originated in Anatolia on a limited scale in the early 2nd millennium BC.
- The major expansion of iron use occurred later, in the late 2nd and early 1st millennium BC, across Anatolia and the wider Near East.
- Social context is more crucial than material properties in explaining iron adoption.
- Comparative analysis between iron and bronze economies, and across regions, is key to understanding adoption patterns.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This review synthesizes field research, textual analysis, and archaeometric data to evaluate different explanations for the spread of iron in the ancient Near East. Current evidence supports an Anatolian origin for extractive iron metallurgy on a limited scale sometime in the early 2nd millennium BC. However, the first major expansion of iron, both in Anatolia and across the wider Near East, occurred in the late second and early first millennium BC. Explanations that place iron adoption within its broader social context are favored over those that consider material or geological properties in isolation. A recurring theme is the importance of comparative analysis, both geographically and between the iron and bronze economies, to explore how social, political, and economic conditions affected adoption patterns.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Archaeological Research, 2019 · DOI ↗
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Field: Archeology (Social Sciences)
ArcheologySocial Sciences