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What is the Deep Impact of Ferrous Metallurgy

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[[File:14769621812 b6c6b9f7a6 b.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 1. Iron helmet; the production of iron transformed warfare.]]

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Metals have made a deep impact on ancient and modern societies. Copper was the first metal to be exploited, as it melts at relatively low temperatures and can be easily molded into tools, jewelry, or weapons. However, the metal can easily bend, is brittle, and can break easily. In the ancient Near East, by the late 2nd millennium BCE, by around 1400-1300 BCE, the process of smelting and making iron tools developed. While iron could be obtained from natural sources, such as meteoric iron, these sources are limited and cannot be used to create many tools or weapons. The innovation of iron smelting opened many new possibilities for the ancient and modern worlds, forever changing how our own societies today have evolved.

Iron likely helped forge many empires that developed in the 1st millennium BCE, where the control of production now gave these states military advantage (Figure 1). While the incentives of gaining military advantage helped spread ferrous technologies, including iron and what became steel making, many secondary effects of this innovation began to develop. First, iron and steel produced not only better swords, spears, and axes, but cutting tools, hammers, saws, and other implements all benefited. This now made it possible to radically transform the landscape. New technologies soon emerged after the innovation of ferrous technologies, including the development of aqueducts and qanats. These water-based technologies allowed areas that were relatively dry to be more easily irrigated through major irrigation works. Iron was also more prevalent than other metals, which meant that many societies were able to benefit from this development. Large forested areas were cleared, terracing became easier, and fuel needed for iron making and other operations were more easily gathered as wood could be cut easier. In effect, the stage was set for new areas to be settled and for infrastructure expansion, including water provisioning, that allowed cities to grow.<ref>For more on the effects of iron on societies, see: Moreno Garcia, Juan Carlos, European Science Foundation, and Université Charles de Gaulle-Lille III, eds. 2016. Dynamics of Production in the Ancient Near East. Oxford ; Philadelphia: Oxbow Books.</ref>

~~[[File:14769621812 b6c6b9f7a6 b.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 1. Iron helmet; the production of iron transformed warfare.]]~~

==Later Developments==

~~While~~ [[File:Chinese Fining and Blast Furnace.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 2. Chinese steel production was advanced and foreshadowed modern methods.]]White steel was already around soon after iron working developed, it took some time before mastering the technology improved. The Romans mastered using coal, rather than wood, for fuel in furnaces. This gave them a new fuel source to produce better quality iron and steel. However, this practice did not become widespread and may not have been extensively used after the Romans in Europe. New steel production techniques from China and India, which developed by the 5th century CE, did, however, spread to other areas of the Old World. This included mixing wrought and cast iron together to form a stronger weapon/tool. The so-called Bessemer method, which is a modern steel production technique and developed much later, already had a precursor developed in China by the 11th century CE (Figure 2). This included repeated cooling and reforging the steel into a stronger product. Problems of having relatively brittle iron were now effectively being solved. Previously, the quality of the iron ore affected the quality of weapons and tools. Now, new production techniques that enabled carbonized iron to be more easily made, and thus creating steel, allowed more rapid spread of better weapons and tools. In the Medieval Islamic world, blast furnaces were developed by the 10-11th centuries. These allowed more industrial production and better production of iron. A process that utilized integration of carbides, through a crucible smelting process, produced some of the strongest steel in the Medieval world. This was the so-called Damascus steel, produced in Syria, that produced some of the best quality swords and weapons of the Medieval world.<ref>For more on iron technology development in late antiquity and the Medieval period, see: Lavan, Luke, Enrico Zanini, and Alexander Sarantis. 2008. Technology in Transition A.D. 300-650. Leiden: BRILL.</ref>

Europe was largely behind much of the Old World in the quality of steel production in the Medieval period. Things began to change in the early 17th century. A method that cemented iron bars with carbon, the so-called cementation processes, was developed. This method was soon utilized in blast furnaces that began to produce better quality steel. Similar to what happened in much of the Old World, dependence on wood led to an eventual limitation of steel production. This created the need, similar to what was seen in China, for the use of new fuels. By the early 1700s, the use of coke was now utilized in creating steel. This removed the need for wood, as coal could now be used, a supply that was plentiful. The use of coke also gave the carbon needed to produce better quality steel.<ref>For more on the cementation process, see: Wertime, Theodore. 1961. The Coming of the Ages of Steel. Brill.</ref>

In the 19th century, improvements in blast furnaces, invented by James Beaumont Neilson from Scotland, enabled much cheaper steel to be made. The Bessemer process was soon developed by the 1850s, by Henry Bessemer, which enabled the production of steel to not only be relatively cheaper, but it allowed it to be done more quickly at an industrial scale. Within a half hour, nearly 25 tons of pig iron could be converted to steel. Other forms of steel developed, such as alloy steels that gave greater flexibility to steel. Stainless steel was developed by the early 20th century.<ref>For more on blast furnaces, see: Mokyr, Joel, ed. 1999. The British Industrial Revolution: An Economic Perspective. 2nd ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.</ref>

~~[[File:Chinese Fining and Blast Furnace.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 2. Chinese steel production was advanced and foreshadowed modern methods.]]~~

==Deep Impact of Ferrous Technologies==

==References==

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