Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-3934-5_8548-2
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
Metallurgy: Early Metallurgy in Mesopotamia
Jean‐François de Lapxérouse*
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
The development of metallurgy in ancient Mesopotamia and the surrounding regions of the Ancient
Near East to the end of the Neo‐Babylonian period (ca. 539 BCE) represented a largely unprecedented achievement that strongly influenced the evolution of technology in much of the ancient
Old World. Although the alluvial plain of the Tigris and the Euphrates was lacking in the mineral
resources and fuel required to extract metals, the rise of urban centers and long‐distance trade
networks allowed this region to benefit from raw materials and expertise gathered over a wide area
from the Aegean Sea to the Indus River valley. This technology required an investment in labor
and materials that reached beyond the constraints of earlier industries and enabled advancements in
many fields including agriculture, transportation, armament production and the visual arts. Although
much has been learned from archaeological exploration, the study of ancient texts, and the
application of scientific analysis to the study of ancient materials, many aspects remain to be
elucidated in a field for which the following can serve only as an introduction.
The Nature of Metals
Cuneiform texts do not reveal any evidence that Mesopotamian craftsmen sought to develop
a theoretical understanding of the nature of metals and their alloys. Nevertheless, the artifacts they
produced bear witness to a considerable practical knowledge accumulated from centuries of
experience manipulating the raw materials at their disposal. A brief consideration of metallic
microstructure provides some insight into the medium with which they were working. The atoms
of each metal species are arranged in one of fourteen possible crystal lattice configurations that can
be visualized as closely packed spheres arrayed within larger crystals known as grains. Metals of the
face‐centered cubic configuration which include gold, silver, copper, and lead – all of which were
used in the ancient world – are malleable at least in part because their compact geometry limits the
friction encountered in slippage between atomic planes when stress, such as hammering, is applied.
When the planes begin to interlock with continued working, heating the metal in a process known as
annealing enables the atoms to reorder themselves thus restoring plasticity.
Impurities introduced naturally or by intentional alloying affect both grain size and composition and
may result in the precipitation of immiscible inclusions at the grain boundaries. These discontinuities
within the crystalline structure can increase an alloy’s hardness and brittleness which are useful for
certain utilitarian purposes but may render the metal unfit for forming by hammering. At the same
time, alloying lowers the melting point of the more refractory constituent – a useful quality when
casting and producing solders with melting points lower than those of the surfaces being joined.
When buried in the seasonally damp and salted soils of the Ancient Near East, metals, with the
exception of gold, will begin to return to an oxidized state similar to the ore minerals from which
they were extracted. As a result, the structure and appearance of many of the metal artifacts
recovered from this region have been altered in some way since their original manufacture. Over
*Email: j-f.delaperouse@metmuseum.org
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time, corrosion as well as the precipitation of alloy components can cause embrittlement. Corrosion
usually proceeds inward along the grain boundaries producing metallic salts that deposit on the
surface and often cause internal fractures due to the expanded volume of oxidation products relative
to that of the original metal. Nevertheless, careful cleaning and x‐radiography can reveal surface
details preserved within corrosion layers and a considerable amount of evidence about an object’s
manufacture, and subsequent history can be gleaned by analyzing cross sections prepared from
small samples taken from artifacts.
Copper and Its Alloys
While valid in broad terms, the tripartite division of human civilization into the Stone
(ca. 7000–3000 BCE), Bronze (3000–1200 BCE), and Iron Ages (1200 BCE–present) proposed
in the early nineteenth century CE has been extensively refined. It is now known that lithic, metal,
and even ceramic‐based tools and technologies coexisted in the Ancient Near East both earlier and
later than it would indicate. The earliest extant metal objects are beads and small tools such as pins,
hooks, and awls made of relatively soft native copper – i.e., geological deposits of metallic copper
discovered near the earth’s surface – which have been recovered from eighth millennium BCE
contexts at sites in Anatolia, Iran, and northern Mesopotamia. While knowledge of smelting during
the following millennium is implied by the presence of a lead bracelet in level 1 of Yarim Tepe in
Iran, it is not until the first half of the fourth millennium BCE that clear evidence from Levantine
sites – such as the impressive hoard of 416 copper alloy objects discovered at Nahal Mishmar
(Fig. 1) – indicates that the extraction of metal from ores was occurring on a significant scale.
Experimentation in the annealing and melting of native copper alloys as well as the accidental
reduction of copper oxide pigments during the firing of decorated pottery may have prompted initial
experimentation into the smelting of metal from copper ores. Early smelting furnaces, such as the late
fourth millennium BCE example excavated at Timna in the southern Negev, consisted of a bowl or pit
cut into the ground that was packed with dressed ore and charcoal – the latter providing both heat and
carbon which combined with and removed oxygen. High temperatures were attained by drafts of
forced air supplied by bellows inserted into the fire whose tips were protected from burning by
refractory ceramic cones known as tuyères. At around 1,083 C – the melting point of pure
Fig. 1 Objects from the hoard found at Nahal Mishmar. Copper alloy. Levant, first half of the fourth millennium BCE
(Israel Museum, Jerusalem) (Roaf, 1990, Photo: David Harris)
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copper – molten metal would puddle at the bottom of the furnace, while the lighter, silicaceous
impurities of the ore, known as the gangue, would separate out with the aid of a flux forming a layer of
slag. Since both slag and tuyères were discarded in situ, they provide evidence of metallurgical activity
at particular sites even in the absence of metal artifacts which were often hoarded and recycled.
Much of the initial smelting took place in the mountainous regions surrounding Mesopotamia that
possessed mineral resources as well as extensive forests for producing charcoal. After an initial
extraction, further refining could be achieved by repeated smelting in crucible furnaces at or near the
workshops where artifacts were produced. Copper mines in the highlands of Iran, accessible by
overland routes, appear to have been an early source of metal for the urban centers that arose in
southern Mesopotamia – the heartland of ancient Sumer – during the period which is named after the
important city of Uruk (ca. 3800–3200 BCE). With the expansion of seaborne trade fostered by the
city‐states of the Early Dynastic period (ca. 3000–2350 BCE), ore sources in Oman, which has been
identified with the Magan of ancient texts, as well as the eastern lands of Aratta and Meluhha, both of
which most likely received partially refined copper from various sources in Iran and Central Asia,
increased in importance. The island of Dilmun – modern Bahrain – was well situated near the
southern end of the Persian Gulf to serve as a mediator in this maritime copper trade particularly in
the late third and early second millennia BCE. To the west, the copper mines in Anatolia supplied
copper to production centers in the Levant and northern Mesopotamia from an early period and
provided the raw materials for an indigenous tradition of sophisticated copper metallurgy exemplified by the late third millennium BCE objects found at the central plateau sites of Alaca Höy€
uk and
Horoztepe (Fig. 2). With the rise of important trading cities on the Levantine coast in the mid‐second
millennium BCE, the importation of Cypriote copper to the region also increased.
Fig. 2 Bull Standard. Copper alloy and electrum. Height, 48 cm. Alaca Höy€uk, Anatolia. Late third millennium BCE
(Ankara Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Turkey, 11850) (Aruz & Wallenfels, 2003, Photo: Bruce White)
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While bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, is attested in texts and objects dated to the beginning of
the Early Dynastic period, modern analysis has indicated that for many centuries the copper used in
Mesopotamia actually contained low concentrations of arsenic, nickel, and other elements (often
referred to as arsenical copper) and that the use of tin only gradually increased toward a standard
concentration of around 10 % as that of arsenic decreased. Arsenical copper has often been viewed
as bronze’s inferior precursor – a soft alloy that was unfit for most practical purposes. However,
ancient metalworkers appear to have been aware that this alloy could be effectively worked
hardened by hammering and cast more easily than pure copper, making it a useful alloy.
It has been suggested that the progression from native copper to bronze alloys reflected the nature of
the ore deposits being exploited (Tylecote: 7–9). In many copper ore bodies, the layer closest to the
surface and most easily exploitable consists of copper carbonates and oxides as well as native copper.
Below lie two copper sulfide deposits which must be oxidized by “roasting” in an open fire before
smelting. Of these, the uppermost layer, which is enriched by copper washing down with groundwater
from above, contains the highest concentration of impurities including arsenic, nickel, and antimony.
As these arsenic‐containing deposits gradually became depleted by ancient miners, it is possible that
the need for a new alloying metal promoted the use of tin. However, recent archaeological work
indicates that the actual situation may have been less straightforward, as complex ores containing
different mixes of impurities were cosmelted from an early period. In addition, the possibility that
arsenic in some form was intentionally added remains a matter of debate.
Tin is not usually found as a natural impurity in copper ores and tin deposits are relatively rare.
While evidence of tin mining in eastern Anatolia indicates that this area may have been a source of
this metal at least in the Early Bronze Age, the primary source of this metal appears to have been the
Badakhshan region of Afghanistan where oxidized tin is associated with alluvial deposits of
weathered granite. Afghanistan is also thought to have been a primary source of the lapis lazuli,
gold, and semiprecious stones that played an important role in Sumerian art of the mid‐third
millennium BCE. This is seen most impressively in the finds from the Royal Tombs of Ur (Figs. 3
and 4), when bronze alloys increasingly were used. Like these prized materials, tin may have been
traded initially as a precious commodity used in the production of highly valued objects. Early in the
succeeding millennium, however, cuneiform texts indicate that large quantities of tin – presumably
obtained in the East – were being transported up the Euphrates to the ancient city Mari from where
they were distributed to other urban centers. During approximately the same period, merchants from
Ashur, the historic and spiritual capital of the land of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia, established
a merchant community (karum) at Kanesh in central Anatolia where tin and textiles were exchanged
for locally obtained precious metals.
Gold and Silver
While gold and silver objects have been recovered from early contexts in northern Mesopotamia and
Anatolia, it is not until the third millennium BCE that significant numbers of precious metal objects
were being produced across the entire region. Gold, found in many of the lands encircling
Mesopotamia, was retrieved from alluvial deposits in nugget form or gleaned from quartz veins
by grinding and separation in water. Native gold usually contains some silver and copper, or these
metals could be intentionally added to achieve desired working properties and/or color. Natural or
artificially produced gold alloys with high silver contents, such as the inlays in a copper alloy
standard from Alaca Höy€
uk (Fig. 2), as well as the jewelry and ingots found by Schliemann in Early
Bronze Age levels at Troy, are known as electrum. Alternately, gold could be refined by the
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Fig. 3 Statue of Queen Napir‐Asu. Copper alloys. Susa, Iran. Middle‐Elamite period, fourteenth century BCE. Height,
129 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris, Sb 2731). (Harper et al., 1992, Photo: Photo Studio, The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
preferential oxidation and removal of the baser elements from the parent metal. This process, known
as cementation, is alluded to in textual evidence dated to the first half of the second millennium BCE
and may have been practiced even earlier. A recent study of a dagger from Ur suggests that a similar
process of surface enrichment known as depletion gilding, which was independently developed in
the pre‐Columbian New World, was practiced by Sumerian metalworkers in the mid‐third millennium BCE (La Niece, 1999).
Although some smelting of silver ores may have occurred, most ancient silver appears to have
been obtained by cupellation from argentiferous lead ores mined in the mountains of Turkey and
Iran – two regions that displayed an early expertise in silversmithing. In this process, the ore was
heated in porous bone cups, or cupels, that absorbed oxidized lead, leaving behind silver droplets
that were collected and melted together. The earliest archaeological evidence of this technology in
the region has been found at the site of the Late Uruk city of Habuba Kabira which was located on the
Euphrates River in what is now the country of Syria.
Metalworking Techniques
Forming objects by hammering and annealing, first attested in the earliest copper artifacts, remained
an important manufacturing technique throughout the history of the Ancient Near East. Worked
sheet was used to make simple tools, vessels (Figs. 5, 6, and 7), and relief decoration (Fig. 8). Vessels
were formed by sinking or raising which involved hammering in concentric circles on the inside or
outside surface, respectively, of the container being formed sometimes with the aid of a form.
Decorative reliefs and friezes were formed by repoussé in which figures were raised against a flat
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Fig. 4 Queen Puabi’s Headdress. Ur, Southern Mesopotamia. Early Dynastic IIIA period, ca. 2550–2400 BCE
(University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, B 16692-3, 17709-12)
(Zettler & Horne, 1998, Photo: The University of Archaeology and Anthropology)
Fig. 5 Spouted cup. Gold. Height, 12.4 cm. Ur, Southern Mesopotamia. Early Dynastic IIIA period, ca. 2550–2400
BCE (The Trustees of the British Museum, London, BM 121346) (Aruz & Wallenfels, 2003, Photo: The Trustees of the
British Museum)
background plane by light hammering from the reverse. After forming, fine linear details were added
by lightly tapping metal tracers with various shaped heads on the surface which displaced the metal
forming lines and decorative patterns as seen in the figural decoration on a silver vase dedicated by
Enmetena, a ruler of the city‐state of Lagash, to the god Ningirsu around 2400 BCE (Fig. 9).
A masterful example of all these combined techniques is also provided by in a cylindrical silver
container attributed to western Central Asia of the late third–early second millennium whose
surfaces virtually erupt with lions, bulls, and wolves in extraordinarily high relief (Fig. 10).
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Fig. 6 Bowl. Gold. Length, 13.12 cm. Ur, Southern Mesopotamia. Early Dynastic IIIA period, ca. 2550–2400 BCE
(University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, B17693) (Zettler & Horne,
1998, Photo: The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology)
Fig. 7 Tumblers. Silver. Height, 16.5–17.4 cm. Ur, southern Mesopotamia. Early Dynastic IIIA period, ca. 2550–2400
(University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, B17072a-d) (Zettler & Horne,
1998, Photo: The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology)
Fig. 8 Details of two door decorations from the Balawat Gate. Copper alloy. Height, each 27 cm. Balawat, northern
Mesopotamia. Neo‐Assyrian period, ninth century BCE (The Trustees of the British Museum, London BM 124662 and
124661) (Curtis, 1988, Photo: The Trustees of the British Museum)
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Fig. 9 Votive vase of Entemena, ruler of Lagash. Silver on copper alloy base. Height, 35 cm. Southern Mesopotamia,
ca. 2400 BC (Musée du Louvre, Paris) (Roaf, 1990, Photo: Service Photographique de la Réuion des Musées Nationaux,
Paris)
Fig. 10 Cylindrical box and lid with lions, bulls, and wolves in relief. Silver. Height, 23.1 cm. Western Central Asia, late
third–early second millennium BCE (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Lent by Shelby White and Leon
Levy L.1999.74.1). (Aruz & Wallenfels, 2003, Photo: Photo Studio, The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
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Fig. 11 Keeling bull holding a vessel. Silver. Height, 16.3 cm. Iran. Proto‐Elamite period, ca. 3000-2800 BCE (The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest 1966, 66.173) (Aruz & Wallenfels, 2003,
Photo: Photo Studio, The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Worked metal sections were joined to produce some of the earliest known metal sculptures in the
round. The ability of ancient silversmiths to produce sensitively modeled, naturalistic figures on
a small scale through the careful combination of separately formed components is demonstrated by
an anthropomorphic kneeling bull attributed stylistically to the Proto‐Elamite culture (3000–2800
BCE) of western Iran (Fig. 11). Worked sheet was also used to create large freestanding figures with
a minimal use of metal. The bull statues that originally adorned the façade of the Early Dynastic IIIB
(2400–2250 BCE) Ninhursaga temple at Tell al-Ubaid featured bodies consisting of worked copper
alloy plates that were nailed onto carved wooden cores. Before its cladding, the wood was coated
with a pliable bitumen layer in order to support the metal during its final chasing (Fig. 12).
Various casting methods also were employed according to the type of object being produced.
Open‐faced molds may have been used to produce flat tools such as the sickles found in a hoard of
mid‐second millennium farming implements from Tell Sifr in southern Mesopotamia (Fig. 13).
Bivalve molds were used to cast solid objects of simple shape. Reusable molds – which varied in
complexity from the late third millennium BCE stone mold for casting trinkets and jewelry such as
the example found at Sippar (Fig. 14) to a Neo‐Assyrian multipart metal mold for simultaneously
casting several arrowheads – were used to mass produce identical castings. Such easily portable
molds, which may have been owned by itinerant craftsmen, enabled the widespread diffusion of
cultural forms and metalworking expertise.
It was the technique of lost‐wax casting, however, that provided Mesopotamian craftsmen with their
greatest opportunity to display their metallurgical and artistic skills. First attested by the intriguing
“standards” and “scepters” of the Nahal Mishmar hoard, this technique was sufficiently advanced by
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Fig. 12 Standing bull from temple. Copper alloy, wood, and bitumen. Height, 71.2 cm. Tell al Ubaid, Mesopotamia.
Early Dynastic IIIB period, ca. 2400–2250 BCE (The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology, Philadelphia, B15886) (Aruz & Wallenfels, 2003, Photo: The University of Pennsylvania Museum of
Archaeology and Anthropology)
Fig. 13 Farming implements from Tell Sifr in southern Mesopotamia. Early second millennium BCE Copper alloy (The
Trustees of the British Museum, London) (Moorey, 1971, Photo: The Trustees of the British Museum)
Fig. 14 Mold form for jewelry, seals, and amulets. Stone. Height, 9 cm. Sippar, Mesopotamia. Late third millennium
BCE (The Trustees of the British Museum, London, BM 91902) (Aruz & Wallenfels, 2003, Photo: The Trustees of the
British Museum)
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Fig. 15 Head of a Ruler found at Nineveh. Copper alloy. Height, 36 cm. Mesopotamia. Akkadian period, ca. 2300-2159
BCE (Iraq Museum, Baghdad, IM 11331) (Oates, 1986, Photo: Directorate‐General of Antiquities, Baghdad)
the Akkadian period (ca. 2350–2100 BCE) to facilitate the production of the earliest large scale
metal sculptures known from the ancient world including the head of a ruler and the lower half of
a male figure on an inscribed base, both dated to the Akkadian period and found in northern Iraq
(Figs. 15 and 16) (see Extra: Head of a Ruler). Lost‐wax casting begins with the sculpting of a model in
wax or other thermoplastic material that is covered – or invested – with clay and fired, causing the wax
to melt out through channels provided in the investment. During casting, these channels provide access
for the molten metal to enter the mold and egress for gases evolved that could impede its flow. In order
to reduce the amount of metal required as well as the risk of casting flaws, the model can be fashioned
over a core of refractory clay that is held in place by metal supports inserted through the investment and
into the core before the removal of the wax. After casting, the investment is broken away, and the core
supports are removed down to the surrounding surface.
Bronze – often with the addition of minor amounts of lead – is an excellent casting alloy, as tin can
lower the melting point of copper by as much as 200 C and inhibit the oxidation of copper which
can lead to casting flaws. Since the use of tin is so advantageous, its absence in many of the copper
alloy sculptures produced before the Iron Age has often been attributed to disruptions in the tin trade.
That other factors may have influenced the composition of the metals used, however, is suggested by
the sculpture of the Middle Elamite Queen Napir‐Asu (ca. fourteenth century BCE) that was
excavated in Iran at the site of the ancient city of Susa. The outer shell of this life‐sized metal
sculpture was cast by the lost wax method over a ceramic core using copper containing only 1 % tin
(Meyers, 2000). For reasons that remain unknown, the ceramic core was subsequently removed, and
the void was filled with a bronze alloy containing 11 % tin (Fig. 3). That the more intractable alloy
was used for casting the outer shell even when tin appears to have been on hand may be due to the
fact that a considerable amount of work was required to remove and/or patch casting imperfections
and to add surface details and inscriptions with tracers after casting. Before the advent of hardened
iron alloys that could engrave or cut into copper, this work may have been easier to execute on
relatively pure copper rather than on bronze.
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Fig. 16 Nude, belted figure found at Bassetki. Copper alloy. Diameter of base, 67 cm. Mesopotamia. Akkadian period,
ca. 2300–2159 BCE (Iraq Museum, Baghdad, IM 77823) (Oates, 1986, Photo: Directorate‐General of Antiquities,
Baghdad)
Although some casting of precious metals occurred, the rarity of gold and silver dictated that they
be used more economically in sheet form to create vessels, jewelry, and small figures. The numerous
elements of gold sheet used in the elaborate headdress of Queen Puabi found at Ur undoubtedly
created a striking visual and aural impression when worn (Fig. 4). Silver and gold also were also
beaten into foil or very thin leaf that was used in the embellishment of baser materials in
objects destined for elite or sacred use such as the lyres and rearing goat statues also found at Ur
(Figs. 17 and 18). Grooves for mechanically locking metal foils in place found on copper alloy
sculptures – including that of Queen Napir‐Asu – indicate that metal surfaces could also be partially
or fully gilt.
In addition to mechanical joins involving nails, rivets, crimping, and casting onto existing
metal surfaces, metallurgical joins were made using solders of various compositions. The use of
soft (i.e., lead/tin) solders, which melt at low temperatures and are difficult to control, was mainly
relegated to joins in copper alloy objects that would not be readily visible. Metallurgical joins on
precious metal objects were made either by carefully heating metal surfaces until they
fused – a technique known as “sweating” – or by using hard solders containing copper which has
a lower melting point than either silver or gold. Ancient metalworkers were very skillful at
exploiting minor differences in the melting temperatures of these hard solders when constructing
complex objects. For example, the 17 sections of the Proto Elamite kneeling bull noted above were
joined using silver solders containing increasing amounts of copper – and consequently lower
melting points – as the figure was assembled, thus ensuring that previously made joins would not fail
each time the appropriate amount of heat was applied. Elements in gold jewelry also could be affixed
in place using a colloidal hard solder consisting of an organic binder such as animal glue mixed with
ground copper salts. When heated, the combustion of the glue provided a locally reduced atmosphere that aided the diffusion of copper ions into the adjacent gold to produce a strong and virtually
invisible join that was ideal for affixing tiny gold grains in granulation work as well as other joins in
complex jewelry constructions (Fig. 19).
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Fig. 17 Great Lyre from the King’s Grave, gold, silver, lapis lazuli, shell, bitumen, and wood. Height of head, 35.6 cm.
Ur, southern Mesopotamia. Early Dynastic IIIA period, ca. 2550–2400 BCE (University of Pennsylvania Museum of
Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, B17694) (Aruz & Wallenfels, 2003, Photo: The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology)
The Advent of Iron
While iron oxide pigments as well as meteoric iron had been used for centuries in the creation of
paintings and objects, the use of iron alloys did not become widespread until the early first
millennium BCE, following a long development that has been difficult to trace as much of the
original evidence has been lost to oxidation. It is possible that experimentation with iron-rich gangue
separated from copper ores may have led to the discovery that iron ores could be processed to
provide a workable metal. Due to a melting point (i.e., almost 500 C. above that of copper) that
exceeded the capability of early Mesopotamian pyrotechnology, iron could not be directly separated
from its slag nor melted for casting. In fact, in the ancient world only Chinese metalworkers
developed the technology for casting iron. Instead, iron ore was reduced in a solid state reaction
at about 800 C in a reducing fire. The mass obtained from the furnace – known as the
bloom – required repeated heating, folding, and hammering to squeeze out the siliceous slag and
provide a metal that could be shaped by hot forging.
Wrought iron objects are relatively soft, and it was only with the development of carburization, in
which carbon is introduced at the surface to form the iron-carbon alloy known as steel, and
quenching, which preserves crystalline phases and structures normally found at high temperatures,
that useful cutting edges harder than bronze could be produced. The skill with which these
operations were carried out progressed unevenly across the region presumably offering temporary
advantage to those groups who were more advanced. Although this technology was not completely
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Fig. 18 Rearing goat with flowering plant. Gold, silver, lapis lazuli, copper alloy, shell, red limestone, and bitumen.
Height 42.6 cm. Ur, Southern Mesopotamia. Early Dynastic IIIA period, ca. 2550–2400 BCE (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, 30-12-702) (Aruz & Wallenfels, 2003, Photo: The
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology)
Fig. 19 Necklace with pendants. Gold. Length, 43 cm. Dilbert, southern Mesopotamia. Nineteenth–eighteenth century
BCE (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Fletcher Fund, 1947 (47.1a-h). (Harper 1984, Photo: Photo Studio,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
mastered in early Mesopotamia, the relative abundance of iron ore deposits allowed for a dramatic
increase in the use of this metal in the production of tools, weapons, and armor from the Neo‐
Assyrian period onwards (Fig. 20).
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Fig. 20 Helmet. Iron. Height, 30.8 cm. Nimrud, northern Mesopotamia. Neo‐Assyrian period, eighth century BCE (The
Trustees of the British Museum, London, BM 22496) (Curtis, 1988, Photo: The Trustees of the British Museum)
While forging largely limited the use of iron to the production of utilitarian objects such as tools and
weapons, by the eighth century BCE, skillful smiths in the Luristan region of southeastern Iran were
already able to fashion complex shapes such as the multipiece sword now in New York (Fig. 21).
The Legacy of Mesopotamian Metallurgy
As outlined above, many of the metalworking techniques used up to modern times were developed
in the Ancient Near East. In addition, the long distance trade spurred by the demand for metal ores
and finished artifacts resulted in the widespread dissemination of technical knowledge and artistic
styles across the entire Mediterranean region. Recent archaeological discoveries such as the Early
Bronze Age copper manufactory at Khirbat Hamra Ifdan in the southern Levant as well as the
continued examination and analysis of artifacts will undoubtedly broaden and revise our understanding of the interaction of culture and technology during this crucial period.
Extra: Head of a Ruler
Based on its style, purported Iranian provenance as well as the perceived ethnicity of its facial
features and hair treatment, the Head of a Ruler now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York has been attributed most often to the Elamite cultural sphere of the late third millennium
BCE (Fig. 22). Whether or not it is a true portrait, this cast copper sculpture possesses a strikingly
life‐like presence that is enhanced by specific features such as the broad nose, deeply set eyes, and
prominent ears. The eye sockets, which are now empty, were probably inlaid with shell or stone.
A tang projecting from the plate across the bottom of the neck indicates that this head was attached to
a body or other mount that may have been made of another material.
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Fig. 21 Multipiece sword. Iron. Length, 50.1 cm. Luristan, Iran. 750-650 BCE (The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, H. Dunscombe Colt Gift, 1961 61.62) (Muscarella, 1988, Photo: Photo Studio, The Metropolitan Museum
of Art)
Fig. 22 Head of a Ruler. Copper alloy. Height 34.3 cm. Mesopotamia. Akkadian period (?), late third millennium (The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1947 47.100.80 (Aruz & Wallenfels, 2003, Photo: Bruce White)
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Fig. 23 Horizontal computed tomography cross section through the Head of a Ruler showing core supports (Photo: The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
Long thought to be virtually solid, radiographic cross sections recently obtained by computed
tomography revealed that this head contained a core and may be among the earliest examples known
of life‐sized hollow casting. In addition to locating the position of core supports, this examination
found internal porosity associated with the casting flaw on the right side of the beard as well as voids
around the ears which may indicate that they were made separately and joined to the wax model of
the head before casting (Fig. 23). If such is the case, then this head bears some similarity in technique
to an Akkadian period copper head found at Nineveh that is now in the Iraq National Museum in
Baghdad (see main text Fig. 14 and Strommenger, 1986).
See Also
▶ Beads
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Additional Web Resources
www.baghdadmuseum.org
http://www.etana.org/home
www.mesopotamia.co.uk
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