Scientists from Japan have established that the oldest iron object found in Anatolia was not made in the territory of modern Turkey, as was previously believed, but in another remote region, the location of which was not possible.
According to The Asahi Shimbun, this is an artifact that was found in 2017 by employees of the Japan Institute of Anatolian Archeology.
A small piece of iron, about three centimeters in diameter, was discovered in Anatolia during excavations of the ruins of a Hittite settlement. By the way, Anatolia is considered the birthplace of iron production from ore.
However, new research may force this hypothesis to be reconsidered. The artifact was found in a geological layer dating from 2500 to 2250 BC. BC. It is considered the oldest relic of its kind.
It was created about one thousand years earlier than the Hittite empire reached its heyday. Thanks to the ability to work with hard metals, this empire gained military superiority over its enemies.
After its collapse, iron processing technology began to spread throughout the world. However, the analysis showed that the discovered relic was produced in some other place, which could not be identified, after which it was delivered to Anatolia.
Scientists have established that iron is of an earthly nature. One hypothesis suggested that the relic was made of meteoric iron. In particular, this was practiced in Ancient Egypt.
The analysis also revealed in the "body" of the relic a series of concentric circles that appear when artificially exposed to heat. That is, it turned out to be an artifact produced by people from iron ore with the help of fire.
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According to researchers, most likely the relic was a “semi-finished product” - iron ore at the middle stage of processing.
Denis Peredelsky