THE DISCOVERERS OF THE ART OF IRON MANUFACTURE. 1 



By W. Bklck. 



About three years ago I again brought before our society the 

 question as to the age and origin of the art of ironworking. 2 I can 

 now state with satisfaction that the discussion and study of this prob- 

 lem has not, as in similar cases, after a sudden burst of enthusiasm, 

 well nigh exhausted itself, but it continues, here and elsewhere, to 

 engage the earnest attention of scholars. 



If it be said that by this time we should have reached some con- 

 clusions, I may say that in a measure we really have arrived at some- 

 what definite results, due chiefly to the present manner of stating the 

 problem, and to a restriction and limitation of the question, which I 

 claim as my modest contribution in the treatment of the subject. 



In the course of my studies, untrammeled by methods and aims of 

 other investigators, and constantly guided by entirely different view- 

 points, I was soon convinced that there was a very long interval 

 between what may be called the accidental and the intentional pro- 

 duction of iron implements, an interval that probably covered many 

 milleniums. The question as to when prehistoric man first held in 

 his hand an iron object made by himself is very interesting to us all, 

 the more so because of the apparent impossibility of finding a satis- 

 factory answer. But this question as to incidental ironworking is 

 unimportant beside the query as to whom we are indebted for the 

 intentional production of iron, its manufacture, and for the industry 

 thus made possible. In a word, who gave this industrial art to an- 

 cient and modern civilization, when and where was it first practiced ? 

 And since the superiority of iron over all other metals known to the 

 ancients is not at all based upon the qualities of wrought iron, which 

 because of its softness and pliability is for many uses considerably 

 inferior to the hard bronze of antiquity, but is due mainly to the 

 excellent qualities of hardened steel, the question as to who were the 

 originators, the time and place, of the first manufactures of steel, 

 becomes of preponderating interest to the historians of civilization. 



1 Translated by permission from the German of W. Belck, Die Erfinder der Eisentechnik in Zeitsehrift 

 fiir Ethnolosie, vol. 42, 1910, part 1, pp. 15-30. Berlin: Behrend & Co., 1910. 



2 Zeitschr. Etnnol., 1907, pp. 334-381. Compare also Zeitschr. Ethnol., 1908, pp. 45-69 and 241-253. 



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