Ancient Copper Smelters Unwittingly Spark Iron Age in Georgia
Archaeologists have uncovered evidence in Georgia that unintentionally set the stage for the Iron Age around 3000 years ago. The discovery at Kvemo Bolnisi reveals how copper smelters' experiments with iron-rich rocks may have led to the accidental production of metallic iron. Initially thought to be an early iron smelting site, the Kvemo Bolnisi workshop was later found to be a copper smelting operation using hematite as a flux. This suggests that ancient metalworkers were experimenting with iron oxide properties, which was crucial to the development of iron metallurgy. The earliest iron objects were forged from meteorites, like Tutankhamun's famous dagger. Around 1200 BCE, the collapse of Bronze Age civilizations and the abundance of iron led to its widespread use, marking the beginning of the Iron Age. The shift to smelting iron from ordinary rock in furnaces took much longer and occurred in various places like Central Anatolia, the Levant, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The Kvemo Bolnisi discovery highlights how accidental findings can drive significant innovations, much like the Iron Age, penicillin, microwaves, and CRISPR. Today, iron remains indispensable, from steel in infrastructure to powdered iron for catalysts, and the slag heaps at Kvemo Bolnisi serve as reminders of ancient experimentation.
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