Around the beginning of the first millennium BCE, iron replaced copper as the main material for producing tools and weapons in ancient Israel. While archaeologists have found ample evidence about where ancient Canaanite and Israelite copper came from and how it was smelted, they know much less about iron. A group of scientists are now trying a novel way to solve the mystery, writes Nir Hasson. (Free registration may be required.)
Excavations around Israel have unearthed the rusted remains of ancient iron tools and, in some places, slag from iron production as well. But the scientists know little about where the iron ore was mined, how the iron-bearing ore was processed as a raw material, and how it was then smelted.
There are, however, only so many ways the people in Judah and ancient Israel could have generated temperatures high enough to extract the iron from ore, and last week Adi Eliyahu of Ariel University set out to recreate the long-forgotten process. The first stage was to gather iron-rich rocks, which was done from two streams in the Negev, Nekarot and Paran. Rocks with iron can be identified by their reddish hue.
The next stage was to heat the rocks in an open fire, which reached a temperature of about 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Then the hot rocks were pulverized into fine gravel, which was placed into a tall, narrow kiln, made of strong clay, together with coal. The kiln had an opening for ventilation. At its bottom, this crude furnace could reach a temperature of 2,300 degrees. . . .
Not one single ancient facility to make iron has been discovered in Israel. One theory is that this is because the ancient furnaces were used exactly once: they would be destroyed in order to extract the purified iron from their insides.
Read more on Haaretz: https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium.MAGAZINE-how-was-iron-smelted-in-ancient-israel-researchers-build-kilns-to-find-out-1.6942156