Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

kevineleveneleven t1_izi3ye4 wrote

Reply to comment by CallFromMargin in Conflict in Central Europe leading to Bronze Age Collapse by Gideonn1021

Iron production was known during the bronze age but not its proper heat treatment, so it was very soft and inferior to the bronze of the era. After international trade had broken down and tin was no longer available to make bronze, the price of bronze skyrocketed, necessitating the use of iron. It took a long time for the heat treatment process of iron to be developed to the point where it was superior to bronze. We could say that it was the late bronze age collapse that led to the Iron Age -- the tin shortage necessitated it.

11

CallFromMargin t1_izi5cjt wrote

This completely ignores the loss of knowledge that was the result of bronze age collapse. Entire regions "forgot" how to write and "forgot" agricultural techniques like irregation, so why couldn't they forget how to make good quality iron?

4

SpaceSweede t1_izihr6v wrote

Because making Iron was essential for survival and also a great way to become rich. The skill of writing not so much when the Palace you used to work in was a ruin and deserted.

5

CallFromMargin t1_izil47g wrote

The skills of agriculture and irregation were also essential for survival, and would make you rich when you sold your bountiful harvest, yet they were lost, entire regions with huge irregation systems were abandoned, and even hundreds of years later were not inhabited.

3

kevineleveneleven t1_izjv0so wrote

There is no evidence that anyone knew how to heat treat iron during the bronze age. We can analyze the crystal structure of iron artifacts and know what processes were involved in the production. Neither are there any literary references to superior iron weaponry and armor.

1

Germanofthebored t1_izilhcx wrote

I don’t really know much about (pre)history, but I was always wondering if iron technology made the extensive trade systems that were needed to gather the ingredients for bronze unnecessary, and that breakdown of “international” trade caused the collapse of civilization

2

kevineleveneleven t1_izjwyvq wrote

Those trade networks for tin really weren't necessary. Somehow people didn't realize there is tin in both Anatolia and in mainland Greece. The later Phoenicians established trade ports as far as Cadiz in Spain where they traded for tin from Britain. This was an unnecessarily long way for tin to travel. But yes, the skyrocketing bronze prices might have bankrupted Egypt as it armed and armored its soldiers to prepare for the expected attack of the Sea Peoples. Egypt managed to defeat them, but it was never the same again.

2

mapadofu t1_izk0xko wrote

It’s fun to think about how we now see iron(steel) as obviously superior to bronze, but at the time using iron was probably seen as a stopgap.

2