Walter C. Alvarez c, j 



The In iRODucTioN of Iron 



But if iron was distrusted mainly because it was a newlangled metal, when 

 did it first come into use? Archaeologists tell us that in Egypt and Mesoixnamia 

 iron did not come into general use until around 700 b.c. For three thousand 

 years or more before this it was known as a rare metal, something like gold, 

 that could be made into beads or ornaments or perhaps into a dagger or 

 spearhead for a king. 5uch articles of iron were probably all made from 

 meteorites and, as was to be expected, chemical analysis has shown them 10 

 contain nickel. 



As one would expect also, in the ancient civilizations there were two names 

 for iron. Thus, in Egypt bia-en-pet was metal from heaven, and bia-en-ta was 

 metal from earth. The Hittites of 1400 B.C. spoke of "black iron from the sky," 

 and the Summerians called it an-bar or sky fire. According to Hammurabi, in 

 1926 B.C. iron was called pa-ar-zi-li, which was an imported word. It apparently 

 was taken over into Hebrew, and in II Samuel (19:31) we read that Barzillai, 

 a friend of David, was a man of iron. In Greece iron was called sideros, and 

 even today siderite is a name for meteoric iron. 



In India iron is mentioned in the Vedas, from the period 1200 to 1000 b.c. 

 In China the earliest recorded use of iron was about 700 b.c. (Rickard^). Bishop" 

 says it came into general use there about 500 b.c. 



Where Was Iron First Produced? 



No one knows where iron was first produced in commercial quantities, but 

 much evidence points to Hallstatt in the neighborhood of the present city of 

 Salzburg, in Austria. About 1300 b.c. the Egyptians began to have trouble with 

 the Hittites of Asia Minor because they had better weapons, made of iron. A 

 certain Hittite king wrote once, promising to send the Pharaoh a supply of 

 iron, but the impression he gave was that he would have to buy it from some- 

 one else. About 1000 b.c. the Dorians brought iron down to Greece and the 

 Mediterranean coast. They brought it from beyond the Danube and probably 

 from around Hallstatt, where an ancient cemetery has been found filled with 

 beautifully made iron weapons and utensils. It would appear that these people 

 must have begun to develop their great metallurgic skill some time before 



1300 B.C. 



Iron Used as Medicine 



Iron has been used as a medicine since ancient times. Dioskorides gave iron rust 

 to women who were flooding. Water or wine in which a glowing piece of iron 

 had been quenched was long used as a treatment for diarrheas and dysenteries. 

 As one would expect, iron was used often for exorcising disease. A curious 

 idea was that of the Romans, w^ho drove nails into the walls of the Temple of 

 Jupiter in order to ward off epidemics. Perhaps with somewhat similar ideas 

 the Germans in the last war drove nails into a wooden bust of Bismarck. 



