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I would think a society that has no access to iron except for the extremely occasional meteorite would use it for something less mundane than an arrowhead. Espe
by jjk166 3y ago
I would think a society that has no access to iron except for the extremely occasional meteorite would use it for something less mundane than an arrowhead. Especially if it was transported many hundreds of kilometers from where it was found, this must have been a valued treasure.
- PrayagBhakar 3y agoOr humans thought it was a gift from god and immediately used it to make a weapon
- mkoubaa 3y agoI wouldn't assume this particular arrowhead was used as a weapon
- hoosieree 3y agoThere are easier sources for iron: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_iron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_iron
- mr_toad 3y agoThat’s iron ore, which needs to be smelted. If you can smelt it you’re no longer in the Bronze Age. Meteoric iron can be pure enough to work without smelting.
- ffhhttt 3y agoIt seems that iron smelting preceded the bronze age in the middle east by several hundred years. Early iron wasn’t very good metal and it made sense sticking to bronze as long as you could afford it and had access to tin and copper)
- rustymonday 3y agoYou're absolutely right. Though I don't understand why this idea persists - even in academic scholarship. It has been proven decades ago that non-meteoric iron was smelted in the Early Bronze Age. Though the main reason bronze was used for so long appears to be because it was actually cheaper than iron. Smelting iron required the burning of an absurd amount of trees, which was extremely expensive.