Iron
Hierro (Fe, Z=26)
- Date
- c. 1500 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Anatolia (Hittite empire)
- Credited to
- Hittite metallurgists (antiquity)
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Meteoric iron was worked from the 4th millennium BCE; the systematic smelting of iron ores became established in Anatolia around 1500 BCE and gave its name to the Iron Age.
An element known since antiquity; the date reflects systematic metallurgy.
What it led to
- The Iron Age: cheap tools and weapons
- Steel and the Industrial Revolution
- The basis of magnetism and modern construction
Built on
- Copper and bronze metallurgy
- Charcoal reduction furnaces
Made possible
- European blast furnacec. 1200
- Bessemer steel