For millennia, iron was produced
in minute quantities and treated as a prestige metal. Its earliest appearance
in the ancient Near East may have derived from the use of meteorites. Iron
cannot be smelted in the same way as other metal ores, because of its
relatively high melting point, over 1500°C. Iron smith hammering a bloom
produced during experimental iron smelting. Courtesy of Adi Eliyahu Behar,
Ariel University.
Lowering this temperature
requires the use of a large amount of charcoal which introduces carbon into the
metal. While a small amount of carbon in the metal (up to 2%) would be
favorable, creating steel (an alloy of iron and carbon), a large amount would
produce a brittle unworkable metal. (The practice of decarburizing the iron,
i.e., removing the excess carbon from the iron metal, was unknown until this
time.)
. . .
Deutero-Isaiah describes the
immense effort required to produce usable iron by this method:
|
ישׁעיה מד:יבחָרַשׁ בַּרְזֶל מַעֲצָד
וּפָעַל בַּפֶּחָם וּבַמַּקָּבוֹת יִצְּרֵהוּ וַיִּפְעָלֵהוּ בִּזְרוֹעַ כֹּחוֹ גַּם־רָעֵב וְאֵין
כֹּחַ לֹא־שָׁתָה מַיִם וַיִּיעָף. |
Isa 44:12 The craftsman in
iron, with his tools, Works it over charcoal And fashions it by hammering,
Working with the strength of his arm. Should he go hungry, his strength would
ebb; Should he drink no water, he would grow faint. |
Not all the slag could be
extracted through this method, so the resulting product was iron metal with
some slag inclusions, and usually contained small amounts of carbon, thus
creating a “natural” steel, which was then forged into shape while red hot. This
method, known as the “bloomery process,” was used until the industrial
revolution.
. . .
Transjordan
In the Transjordan, burials dated
to the early 12th century contain dozens of steel bracelets.As
the burials were distributed in the proximity of the rich iron deposit of
Mugaret al Warda near Amman, they were probably locally produced, thus
providing us with evidence for the initial introduction of this technology in
the region.
5. Symbolic
The more compelling explanation
is that “chariots of iron” may mean strong chariots since iron (in fact steel)
was perceived as stronger than bronze. Iron, in this case, would be a symbolic
expression of strength, an image well-known in the Iron Age, rather than an
accurate description of the actual chariots used by the Canaanites in the Late
Bronze and Iron I. (Naama Yahalom-Mack, “The
History of Iron in Ancient Israel,” The Torah.com, updated November
30, 2025)
