The problem of the origin of ferrous metallurgy began to be clarified only recently. A certain number of facts are known that indicate that iron has been familiar to people almost since the Stone Age. It was meteoric iron, containing a lot of nickel and cold workable.

According to the English scientist A. Snodgrass, there are three stages in the development of iron technology. At the first stage, iron is found irregularly, it cannot yet be considered "working", it is more of a ceremonial material. In the second stage, iron is used in the manufacturing sector, but on a smaller scale than bronze. In the third stage, iron becomes the dominant material.

The earliest finds of iron objects from meteoric iron were noted in Iran (VI-IV millennium BC), Iraq (V millennium BC) and Egypt (IV millennium BC). In North Africa and the Near East, acquaintance with the new metal also began with native iron around the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. For example, in Mesopotamia it was known in the early dynastic time (3rd millennium BC), as evidenced by the finds in Ur.

Products made of meteoric iron are known in various cultures of Eurasia: in the Yamnaya (III millennium BC) in the Southern Urals and in Afanasievskaya (III millennium BC) in Southern Siberia. He was known by the Eskimos and Indians of the northwest of North America, and the population of Zhou China.

Many different theories have been proposed for the origin of iron in human practice. The most convincing opinion is that the most ancient ore iron could have been obtained unintentionally, as a secondary product of complex bronze casting technology, in which iron ore was used as a flux.

Apparently, for a long time it was not possible to obtain iron in sufficient quantities, and when this happened, iron began to be considered a gift from the gods, a heavenly metal. At first, it was very expensive, highly valued and used mainly in the prestigious social sphere.

Early finds of iron obtained from ore are associated with sites of the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. Mesopotamia, Anatolia and Egypt. They come either from burials or from hoards or temples. Iron weapons are usually decorated with gold, which indicates their use in ritual practice. As analyzes show, during this period, meteoric and smelted iron were used simultaneously.

For a long time it was believed that iron appeared in Egypt very early, since it was mentioned in some texts, in particular, in the Amarna archive. Iron was presented to Pharaoh Amenhotep as a gift from the Hittite tribes from the country of Mittani, which was located in the east of Asia Minor. However, the earliest iron products were limited to small items: beads, pins. It turned out that some things got into the tombs later.

Pieces of iron were found in layers of the 2nd millennium BC. in Assyria and Babylon. At first, iron was valued there as well as gold, and was exported as booty from Syria. In the texts of the XIX-XVIII centuries. BC, discovered in the ruins of the old Assyrian trading colony of Kültepe in Central Anatolia, a very expensive material is mentioned (8 times more expensive than gold), which is sold in small quantities. In the palace, built in 1714 BC. By the Assyrian king Sargon, tablets with inscriptions about its foundation were found. They, among other things, speak of various gifts, including metals sent in honor of this event. But iron is no longer mentioned as a valuable metal, although a whole warehouse of iron chips was found in one of the rooms of the palace. There are iron finds dating back to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. in Cyprus and Crete. In the monuments of the Late Bronze Age of the Near East, there is already much more iron.

However, the widespread development of new technology began only when people learned how to extract iron from ore. According to popular belief, the earliest iron production is recorded in the northern regions of Anatolia. It is traditionally believed that the Hittite tribes were the first to master this business, who supplied the district with luxury goods, but kept the technology a secret for a long time.

However, this conclusion is constantly controversial among specialists, since it is not supported by accurate textual and full-fledged archaeological evidence. Many iron products are known on the territory of Anatolia, but it is difficult to establish whether they are locally produced. The smelting of iron is mentioned in a letter from the Hittite king Hattussili III (1250 BC) to the Assyrian king Shalmansar I regarding the supply of metal. It says that for the production of iron "now is not the right time and it is not in the royal storehouses at the moment, but it will certainly be received." As satisfaction, the Hittite king sends an iron dagger to his Assyrian colleague. Apparently, the production of iron was indeed known to the Hittites, but the size of this production was quite modest, although it allowed them to trade.

From the 13th century BC. iron began to spread much faster. For example, already in the XII century. BC. it was known in Syria and Palestine, and by the 9th century. it almost completely replaced bronze from wide use and very quickly became the subject of wide trade. The export of iron went through the Euphrates Valley and the mountains of the North Syrian Union to the south and to the north - through the Pontic colonies. This path was called iron.

According to modern data, the technology of carburizing and hardening iron was invented in the Western Mediterranean, in Cyprus or in Palestine, around the 12th-12th centuries. BC.

Armenia is also considered one of the areas where iron first appeared, which came into permanent use there in the 9th century. BC, although the first iron products in Transcaucasia date back to the 15th-14th centuries. BC. They were found in the burial complexes of the burial grounds of Samtavro and Tli. The population of Urartu widely used iron objects. Traces of ferrous metallurgy are found in Taishebaini.

As noted above, pieces of bloomery iron were found in Crete and dated to the 19th century. BC. But the local production of iron in the Aegean Islands begins around the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. According to B. V. Grakov, the Greek tradition marks the eastern part of Asia Minor (the southern coast of the Black Sea) as the area where the tribes of Khalibs or Caliphs lived, which means "steel" in translation. This area can be considered another center for the emergence of ferrous metallurgy. Perhaps, from them - the Khalibs - the Greeks received information about iron. B. V. Grakov believes that, despite the fact that in different countries acquaintance with meteoric iron occurred quite early, mastering the process of obtaining iron occurred thanks to the Hittites, Mitani and Khalibs. However, as we know, this assumption is not currently considered as justified as before.

The spread of iron in Greece coincided in time with the era of the Homeric epic (IX-VI centuries BC). The Iliad contains only two mentions of this metal, while in the Odyssey it is mentioned much more often, but still together with bronze.

It is assumed that iron came to Europe from the east in various ways: through Greece - the Balkans, or through Greece - Italy - the northern Balkans, or through the Caucasus - South Russia - the Carpathian basin. Early finds of iron here are concentrated mainly in the Western Balkans and in the Lower Danube and date back to the period from the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. (rare) until the 8th century. BC.

Iron appeared in Central Europe in the 7th century BC. Iron production was well mastered by the Celts by the 5th century BC. BC, they supplied iron to the Romans and even taught them blacksmithing, they were able to combine soft iron and hard steel in one object, thereby obtaining a malleable plate that is easy to process, but has a sharp cutting edge.

In Scandinavia, the rivalry between bronze and iron continued until the beginning of our era, and in Britain until the 5th century. AD According to Tacitus, the Germans rarely used iron.

On the territory of Eastern Europe in the burial mounds of the Yamnaya culture of the 3rd millennium BC. Meteoritic iron products obtained by cold forging were found. Slags and ore are sometimes found in the monuments of the Srubnaya and Abashevskaya cultures on the Don. They are noted in the complexes of the Catacomb, Belogrudovo cultures in the Dnieper region.

The population of Eastern Europe mastered the technology of extraction and processing of iron until the turn of the 9th-8th centuries. BC. In the forest belt, this process took place mainly in the 8th century. BC. The first items are quite simple: awls, chisels, knives, but such operations as welding and forging have already been used in their processing. Already in the VIII century. BC. in Eastern Europe there was a turning point in metallurgy. This is marked by the spread of complex bimetallic objects, in particular, swords, in which the pommel was cast from bronze according to individual models. At the same time, the East European tribes early mastered the process of cementation and steel production. It is assumed that bimetallic objects were made by one person who knew both technologies. This indirectly indicates that ferrous metallurgy originated in the bowels of non-ferrous metallurgy.

Thus, the transition to the production of iron in the Old World occurred at the end of the 2nd millennium BC, but it became massive later - in the 1st millennium BC. In the Eastern Mediterranean, where the carburization process was discovered quite early, steel production began. Here, iron successfully competed with bronze immediately after its appearance.

In Siberia, rich in copper ore and tin, the introduction of iron was belated; non-ferrous metallurgy was preserved here for a relatively long time. For example, in Western Siberia, the transition to the Iron Age was carried out in the period of the VIII-V centuries. BC. But only from the III century. BC. she entered the true Iron Age, when the predominance of raw materials passed to iron. The same dates can be indicated for Altai and the Minusinsk Basin. In the forest belt of Western Siberia, only at the end of the 1st millennium BC. began a real acquaintance with iron.

In South-East Asia, products made of bloomery iron appeared in the middle of the 1st millennium BC, and in the second half of this millennium they were already widely used in the economy. At first, bimetallic things were popular, later - made entirely of iron.

At the end of the II millennium BC. bimetallic objects were also known in China, the iron in them was of meteoric origin. The first news about him dates back to the 8th century. BC. The real production of iron began around the middle of the 1st millennium BC. But unlike European hearths, in China they learned very early to get high temperatures and cast iron in molds, i.e. get pig iron.

In Africa, steel has become the primary product. They also invented a high cylindrical hearth and preheating the air supplied to it. These things were not known in other territories. Some researchers believe that in Africa iron production was mastered independently without any influence. Others believe that the origin of ferrous metallurgy here is associated with the initial impulse, and then it developed independently. In Nubia, Sudan, Libya, iron appeared around the 6th century. BC. In South Zaire, the working of copper and iron became known at the same time. Some tribes switched to iron immediately from the Stone Age. In general, the transition to iron in African territory covered the second half of the 1st millennium BC. (VI-I centuries BC). Interestingly, in South Africa, in the Great Savannah of the river basin. Congo, where there are the richest deposits of copper, copper production was mastered later than iron-making. Moreover, if iron was used to make tools, then copper was used for jewelry.

America is characterized by its own characteristics. Several centers of the early appearance of metal are distinguished here. In the Andes, known for its richest reserves of metal ores, the first known metal was gold, and the emergence of metallurgical and ceramic industries took place there simultaneously, but independently. Since the 18th century BC. and in the second half of the II millennium BC. gold and silver things were used here. In Peru, an alloy of silver copper (tumbaga) was first obtained, which was highly valued by the population of American civilizations. Interestingly, copper was first obtained by blacksmithing and only later began to be cast. In Mesoamerica, the metal became known in the 1st millennium BC, when it began to be imported. Only in the VII-VIII centuries. AD Mayan tribes mastered metallurgy. By this time, their ancient statehood was in decline.

Copper was the first metal in North America. Iron appeared in 1000 BC. - at first in the western regions among the population of the Bering Sea culture. At first, meteorite iron was used, then flash iron. In Australia, as in America, ferrous metallurgy appeared in the Age of Discovery.

Iron is a chemical element with atomic number 26 in the periodic system, denoted by the symbol Fe (lat. Ferrum), one of the most common metals in the earth's crust. The simple substance iron is a silvery-white, malleable metal with a high chemical reactivity: iron quickly corrodes at high temperatures or high humidity in air. Iron is rarely found in nature in its pure form. Often used by man to create alloys with other metals and with carbon, it is the main component of steel. The prevalence of iron in the earth's crust (4.65%, 4th place after O, Si, Al) and the combination of specific properties make it the "No. 1 metal" in importance for humans. It is also believed that iron makes up most of the earth's core.

There are several versions of the origin of the Slavic word "iron" (Belarusian zhalez, Bulgarian zhelyazo, Ukrainian zalizo, Polish Żelazo, Slovenian Železo). One of the versions connects this word with the Sanskrit "pity", which means "metal, ore". Another version sees in the word the Slavic root "lez", the same as in the word "blade" (since iron was mainly used to make weapons). There is also a connection between the word "jelly" and the gelatinous consistency of "marsh ore", from which the metal was mined for some time. The name of natural iron carbonate (siderite) comes from lat. sidereus - stellar; indeed, the first iron that fell into the hands of people was of meteoric origin. Perhaps this coincidence is not accidental. In particular, the ancient Greek word sideros for iron and the Latin sidus meaning "star" are likely to have a common origin.

In terms of prevalence in the lithosphere, iron is in 4th place among all elements and in 2nd place after aluminum among metals. Its percentage by mass in the earth's crust is 4.65%. Iron is a part of more than 300 minerals, but only ores with a content of at least 16% iron are of industrial importance: magnetite (magnetic iron ore) - Fe3O4 (72.4% Fe), hematite (iron sheen or red iron ore) - Fe2O3 ( 70% Fe), brown iron ore (goethite, limonite, etc.) with an iron content of up to 66.1% Fe, but more often 30-55%.

Iron has long been widely used in technology, not so much because of its wide distribution in nature, but because of its properties: it is plastic, easily amenable to hot and cold forging, stamping and drawing. However, pure iron has low strength and chemical resistance (it oxidizes in air in the presence of moisture, becoming covered with insoluble brown loose rust). Because of this, in its pure form, iron is practically not used. What we used to call "iron" and "iron" products in everyday life is actually made of cast iron and steel - iron-carbon alloys, sometimes with the addition of other so-called alloying elements that give these alloys special properties.

There was a time when iron on earth was valued much more than gold. 1: 160: 1280: 6400. This is the ratio of the values ​​of copper, silver, gold and iron among the ancient Hittites. As Homer testifies in the Odyssey, the winner of the games arranged by Achilles was rewarded with a piece of gold and a piece of iron.
Iron was equally necessary for both the warrior and the plowman, and practical need, as you know, is the best engine of production and technical progress. The term "Iron Age" was introduced into science in the middle of the 19th century. Danish archaeologist K.Yu. Thomsen. "Official" boundaries of this period of human history: from IX...VII centuries. BC. when iron metallurgy began to develop among many peoples and tribes of Europe and Asia, and until the time when a class society and state arose among these tribes. But if the epochs are named according to the main material of the tools, then, obviously, the Iron Age continues today.

How did our distant ancestors get iron? First, the so-called cheese-making method. Cheese kilns were arranged right on the ground, usually on the slopes of ravines and ditches. They looked like pipes. This pipe was filled with charcoal and iron ore. Coal was lit, and the wind blowing into the slope of the ravine kept the coal burning. Iron ore was reduced, and a soft cry was obtained - iron with slag inclusions. Such iron was called welding; it contained some carbon and impurities transferred from the ore. Critsu was forged. Pieces of slag fell off, and iron remained under the hammer, pierced by slag threads. Various tools were forged from it. The age of wrought iron was long, but people of antiquity and the early Middle Ages were also familiar with other iron. The famous Damascus steel (or damask steel) was made in the East in the time of Aristotle (4th century BC). But the technology of its production, as well as the process of making damask blades, was kept secret.

Both damask steel and Damascus steel do not differ in chemical composition from ordinary unalloyed steel. These are alloys of iron and carbon. But unlike ordinary carbon steel, damask steel has a very high hardness and elasticity, as well as the ability to give a blade of exceptional sharpness.
The secret of damask steel haunted the metallurgists of many centuries and countries. What only methods and recipes were not offered! Gold, silver, precious stones, ivory were added to iron. The most ingenious (and sometimes the most terrible) "technologies" were invented. One of the oldest tips: for hardening, immerse the blade not in water, but in the body of a muscular slave, so that his strength turns into steel.

In the first half of the last century, the remarkable Russian metallurgist P.P. managed to reveal the secret of damask steel. Anosov. He took the purest flash iron and placed it in an open crucible in a charcoal furnace. Iron, melting, was saturated with carbon, covered with slag from crystalline dolomite, sometimes with the addition of pure iron scale. Under this slag, it was very intensively freed from oxygen, sulfur, phosphorus and silicon. But that was only half the battle. It was also necessary to cool the steel as calmly and slowly as possible, so that during the crystallization process, large crystals of a branched structure, the so-called dendrites, could first form. Cooling went right in the hearth, filled with hot coal. This was followed by skillful forging, which was not supposed to break the resulting structure.

Another Russian metallurgist - D.K. Chernov subsequently explained the origin of the unique properties of bulat, linking them to the structure. Dendrites consist of refractory, but relatively soft steel, and the space between their "branches" is filled in the process of solidification of the metal with more carbon-saturated, and therefore harder steel. Hence the greater hardness and greater viscosity at the same time. During forging, this steel "hybrid" is not destroyed, its tree structure is preserved, but only from a straight line it turns into a zigzag one. The features of the drawing largely depend on the strength and direction of the blows, on the skill of the blacksmith.

Damascus steel of antiquity is the same damask steel, but later the so-called steel obtained by forge welding from numerous steel wires or strips. The wires were made from steels with different carbon contents, hence the same properties as damask steel. In the Middle Ages, the art of making such steel reached its greatest development. A Japanese blade is known, in the structure of which about 4 million microscopically thin steel threads were found. Naturally, the process of making weapons from Damascus steel is even more laborious than the process of making damask sabers.

The cheese-making process largely depended on the weather: it was necessary that the wind must blow into the “pipe”. The desire to get rid of the vagaries of the weather led to the creation of bellows, which fanned the fire in a raw furnace. With the advent of bellows, there was no longer any need to build raw furnaces on the slopes. A new type of furnace appeared - the so-called wolf pits, which were dug in the ground, and blast furnaces, which towered above the ground. They were made from stones held together with clay. A tube of bellows was inserted into the hole at the base of the domnitsa and the furnace began to be inflated. Coal burned out, and in the hearth of the furnace there was already a cry familiar to us. Usually, in order to pull it out, they broke out several stones at the bottom of the furnace. Then they were laid back in place, the furnace was filled with coal and ore, and everything started all over again.

When removing the cracker from the furnace, molten cast iron was also poured out - iron containing more than 2% carbon, melting at lower temperatures. In solid form, cast iron cannot be forged; it shatters into pieces from one blow with a hammer. Therefore, cast iron, like slag, was initially considered a waste product. The British even called it "pig iron" - pig iron. Only later did metallurgists realize that liquid iron could be poured into molds and various products, such as cannonballs, could be obtained from it. By the XIV ... XV centuries. blast furnaces, which produced pig iron, firmly entered the industry. Their height reached 3 m more, they smelted foundry iron, from which not only the cores, but also the cannons themselves were poured. The real turn from the blast furnace to the blast furnace took place only in the 80s of the 18th century, when one of Demidov's clerks came up with the idea of ​​blowing into the blast furnace not through one nozzle, but through two, placing them on both sides of the hearth. The number of nozzles, or lances (as they are now called), grew, the blast became more and more uniform, the diameter of the hearth increased, and the productivity of the furnaces increased.

Two more discoveries greatly influenced the development of blast-furnace production. For many years blast furnaces were fueled by charcoal. There was a whole industry dedicated to burning coal from wood. As a result, the forests in England were cut down to such an extent that a special decree was issued by the Queen forbidding the destruction of the forest for the needs of the iron and steel industry. After that, English metallurgy began to decline rapidly. Britain was forced to import pig iron from abroad, mainly from Russia. This continued until the middle of the 18th century, when Abraham Derby found a way to obtain coke from coal, the reserves of which in England are very large. Coke became the main fuel for blast furnaces. In 1829, J. Nilson at the Kleid plant (Scotland) first applied heated air blowing into blast furnaces. This innovation increased the productivity of furnaces and dramatically reduced fuel consumption. The last significant improvement in the blast furnace process has already taken place today. Its essence is the replacement of part of the coke with cheap natural gas.

The process of steel production is essentially reduced to burning out impurities from cast iron, to oxidizing them with atmospheric oxygen. What metallurgists are doing may seem nonsense to an ordinary chemist: first they reduce iron oxide, simultaneously saturating the metal with carbon, silicon, manganese (iron production), and then they try to burn them out. The most annoying thing is that the chemist is absolutely right: metallurgists use an obviously ridiculous method. But they didn't have anything else. The main metallurgical redistribution - the production of steel from cast iron - arose in the 14th century. Steel was then obtained in bloomery forges. Cast iron was placed on a bed of charcoal above the air lance. During the combustion of coal, the cast iron melted and dripped down in drops, passing through a zone richer in oxygen - past the tuyere. Here, iron was partially freed from carbon and almost completely from silicon and manganese. Then it ended up at the bottom of the hearth, covered with a layer of ferruginous slag left over from the previous smelting. The slag gradually oxidized the carbon that was still in the metal, causing the melting point of the metal to rise and it to thicken. The resulting soft ingot was lifted up with a crowbar. In the zone above the tuyere, it was remelted again, while some part of the carbon contained in the iron was oxidized. When, after remelting, a 50 ... 100-kilogram cry was formed at the bottom of the furnace, it was removed from the furnace and immediately sent for forging, the purpose of which was not only to compact the metal, but also to give out liquid slags from it.

The most advanced iron-making unit of the past was the puddling oven, invented by the Englishman Henry Cort at the end of the 18th century. (By the way, he also invented the rolling of shaped iron on rolls with gauges cut into them. A red-hot strip of metal, passing through the gauges, took their shape.). Kort's puddling oven was loaded with cast iron, and its bottom (bottom) and walls were lined with iron ore. They were renewed after each melting. Hot gases from the furnace melted the iron, and then the oxygen in the air and the oxygen contained in the ore oxidized the impurities. The puddler standing by the stove was stirring the bath with an iron stick, on which crystals formed, forming an iron spit, were deposited. After the invention of the puddling furnace, nothing new appeared in this area of ​​ferrous metallurgy for a long time, except for the crucible method for producing high-quality steel developed by the Englishman Gunstman. But the crucibles were inefficient, and the development of industry and transport required more and more steel.

Henry Bessemer in 1856 patented a method for producing steel by blowing air through liquid iron in a converter - a pear-shaped vessel made of sheet iron, lined with quartz refractory from the inside. A refractory bottom with many holes serves to supply the blast. The converter has a device for rotation within 300°. Before starting work, the converter is placed “on its back”, cast iron is poured into it, blast is blown, and only then the converter is placed vertically. Air oxygen oxidizes iron to FeO. The latter dissolves in cast iron and oxidizes carbon, silicon, manganese ... Slags are formed from oxides of iron, manganese and silicon. The taxi process is carried out until the carbon is completely burnt out. Then the converter is again placed "on its back", the blast is turned off, the calculated amount of ferromanganese is introduced into the metal - for deoxidation. This results in high quality steel.
The method of converting pig iron became the first method of mass production of cast steel.

The redistribution in the Bessemer converter, as it turned out later, also had disadvantages. In particular, harmful impurities - sulfur and phosphorus - were removed from cast iron. Therefore, for processing in the converter, mainly cast iron free of sulfur and phosphorus was used. They later learned to get rid of sulfur (partially, of course), by adding manganese-rich "mirror" cast iron to liquid steel, and later ferromanganese. With phosphorus, which was not removed in the blast-furnace process and was not bound by manganese, the situation was more complicated. Some ores, such as Lorraine, which are rich in phosphorus, remained unsuitable for steel production. The solution was found by the English chemist S.D. Thomas, who proposed to bind phosphorus with lime. The Thomas converter, unlike the Bessemer one, was lined with burnt dolomite, not silica. Lime was added to cast iron during blowing. A lime-phosphorous slag was formed, which was easily separated from the steel. Subsequently, this slag was even used as a fertilizer.

The biggest revolution in steelmaking took place in 1865, when father and son Pierre and Emile Martin used a regenerative gas furnace built according to the drawings of W. Siemens to produce steel. In it, thanks to the heating of gas and air, in special chambers with a refractory nozzle, such a high temperature was reached that the steel in the furnace bath no longer passed into a pasty, as in a puddling furnace, but into a liquid state. It could be poured into ladles and molds, made into ingots and rolled into rails, beams, building profiles, sheets... And all this on a huge scale! In addition, it became possible to use the huge quantities of scrap iron accumulated over many years in metallurgical and machine-building plants. The latter circumstance played a very important role in the development of the new process. At the beginning of the XX century. open-hearth furnaces almost completely replaced the Bessemer and Thomas converters, which, although they consumed scrap, were in very small quantities.

Converter production could become a historical rarity, the same as puddling, if not for oxygen blasting. The idea of ​​removing nitrogen from the air, which is not involved in the process, and blowing pig iron with oxygen alone, occurred to many prominent metallurgists of the past; especially in the 19th century. Russian metallurgist D.K. Chernov and the Swede R. Åkerman wrote about it. But at that time oxygen was too expensive. Only in the 30s-40s of the 20th century, when cheap industrial methods for obtaining oxygen from air were introduced, metallurgists were able to use oxygen in steelmaking. Of course, in open-hearth furnaces. Attempts to blow oxygen through the pig iron in the converters were not successful; such a high temperature developed that the bottoms of the apparatus burned through. In the open-hearth furnace, everything was simpler: oxygen was given both to the torch to increase the temperature of the flame, and to the bath (into liquid metal) to burn out impurities. This made it possible to greatly increase the productivity of open-hearth furnaces, but at the same time raised the temperature in them so much that refractories began to melt. Therefore, here too, oxygen was used in moderate amounts.

In 1952, in the Austrian city of Linz, the Fest plant for the first time began to use a new method of steel production - an oxygen-converter. Cast iron was poured into the converter, the bottom of which did not have holes for blowing, it was deaf. Oxygen was supplied to the surface of liquid iron. The burnout of impurities created such a high temperature that the liquid metal had to be cooled by adding iron ore and scrap to the converter. And in fairly large quantities. Converters reappeared in metallurgical plants. The new method of steel production began to spread rapidly in all industrialized countries. Now it is considered one of the most promising in steelmaking. The advantages of the converter are that it takes up less space than an open-hearth furnace, its construction is much cheaper, and its productivity is higher. However, at first, only low-carbon mild steels were smelted in converters. In subsequent years, a process was developed for smelting high-carbon and alloy steels in a converter.

The properties of steels are varied. There are steels designed for a long stay in sea water, steels that can withstand high temperatures and the aggressive action of hot gases, steels from which soft tie wires are made, and steels for making elastic and hard springs. Such a variety of properties results from the variety of steel compositions. So, high-strength ball bearings are made from steel containing 1% carbon and 1.5% chromium; steel containing 18% chromium and 8 ... 9% nickel is the well-known "stainless steel", and turning tools are made from steel containing 18% tungsten, 4% chromium and 1% vanadium. This variety of steel compositions makes them very difficult to smelt. Indeed, in an open-hearth furnace and a converter, the atmosphere is oxidizing, and elements such as chromium are easily oxidized and turn into slag, i.e. are lost. This means that in order to obtain steel with a chromium content of 18%, much more chromium must be fed into the furnace than 180 kg per ton of steel. Chrome is an expensive metal. How to find a way out of this situation?

A way out was found at the beginning of the 20th century. For metal smelting, it was proposed to use the heat of an electric arc. Scrap metal was loaded into a circular furnace, cast iron was poured and carbon or graphite electrodes were lowered. Between them and the metal in the furnace (“bath”) an electric arc with a temperature of about 4000 ° C occurred. The metal melted easily and quickly. And in such a closed electric furnace, you can create any atmosphere - oxidizing, reducing or completely neutral. In other words, valuable items can be prevented from burning out. This is how the metallurgy of high-quality steels was created. Later, another method of electric melting was proposed - induction. From physics it is known that if a metal conductor is placed in a coil through which a high-frequency current passes, then a current is induced in it and the conductor heats up. This heat is enough to melt the metal in a certain time. The induction furnace consists of a crucible with a spiral embedded in the lining. A high-frequency current is passed through the spiral, and the metal in the crucible is melted. In such a furnace, you can also create any atmosphere.

In electric arc furnaces, the melting process usually takes place in several stages. First, unnecessary impurities are burned out of the metal, oxidizing them (oxidation period). Then, slag containing oxides of these elements is removed (downloaded) from the furnace, and ferroalloys are loaded - iron alloys with elements that need to be introduced into the metal. The furnace is closed and melting is continued without air access (recovery period). As a result, the steel is saturated with the required elements in a given amount. The finished metal is released into a ladle and poured.

Steels, especially high-quality ones, turned out to be very sensitive to the content of impurities. Even small amounts of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, sulfur, phosphorus greatly impair their properties - strength, toughness, corrosion resistance. These impurities form non-metallic compounds with iron and other elements contained in the steel, which wedged between the grains of the metal, impair its uniformity and reduce quality. So, with an increased content of oxygen and nitrogen in steels, their strength decreases, hydrogen causes the appearance of flakes - microcracks in the metal, which lead to unexpected destruction of steel parts under load, phosphorus increases the brittleness of steel in the cold, sulfur causes red brittleness - the destruction of steel under load at high temperatures. Metallurgists have been looking for ways to remove these impurities for a long time. After smelting in open-hearth furnaces, converters and electric furnaces, the metal is deoxidized - aluminum, ferrosilicon (an alloy of iron and silicon) or ferromanganese are added to it. These elements actively combine with oxygen, float into the slag and reduce the oxygen content in the steel. But oxygen still remains in the steel, and for high-quality steels, its remaining quantities are too large. It was necessary to find other, more effective ways.

In the 1950s, metallurgists began to evacuate steel on an industrial scale. A ladle with liquid metal is placed in a chamber from which air is pumped out. The metal begins to boil violently and gases are released from it. However, imagine a ladle with 300 tons of steel - how long will it take until it boils completely, and how much will the metal cool during this time. It will immediately become clear to you that this method is suitable only for small amounts of steel. Therefore, other, faster and more efficient vacuuming methods have been developed. Now they are used in all developed countries, and this has improved the quality of steel. In the early 60s, a method of electroslag remelting of steel was developed, which very soon began to be used in many countries. This method is very simple. In a water-cooled metal vessel - a mold - an ingot of metal is placed, which must be purified, and covered with slag of a special composition. Then the ingot is connected to a current source. An electric arc occurs at the end of the ingot, and the metal begins to melt. Liquid steel reacts with slag and is purified not only from oxides, but also from nitrides, phosphides and sulfides. A new ingot, purified from harmful impurities, solidifies in the mold. An alternative method was also used: slags of a special composition for cleaning metal are melted and poured into a ladle, and then metal is released from the furnace into this liquid slag. The slag mixes with the metal and absorbs impurities. This method is fast, efficient and does not require large amounts of electricity.

Obtaining iron directly from the ore, bypassing the blast-furnace process, was engaged in the last century. Then this process was called direct reduction. However, until recently, it has not found wide distribution. Firstly, all proposed methods of direct reduction were inefficient, and secondly, the resulting product - sponge iron - was of poor quality and contaminated with impurities. And yet enthusiasts continued to work in this direction. The situation has changed radically since the widespread use of natural gas in industry. It proved to be an ideal means of recovering iron ore. The main component of natural gas, methane CH4, is decomposed by oxidation in the presence of a catalyst in special devices - reformers according to the reaction 2CH4 + O2 → 2CO + 2H2.

It turns out a mixture of reducing gases - carbon monoxide and hydrogen. This mixture enters the reactor, which is fed with iron ore.
The shapes and designs of reactors are very diverse. Sometimes the reactor is a rotating tube kiln, such as a cement kiln, sometimes a shaft kiln, sometimes a closed retort. This explains the variety of names for direct reduction methods: Midrex, Purofer, Ohalata-i-Lamina, SL-RN, etc. The number of ways has already exceeded two dozen. But their essence is usually the same. Rich iron ore is reduced by a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. From sponge iron, not only a good ax - a good nail cannot be forged. No matter how rich the original ore is, pure iron will still not come out of it. According to the laws of chemical thermodynamics, it will not even be possible to restore all the iron contained in the ore; some of it will still remain in the product in the form of oxides. Sponge iron turns out to be an almost ideal raw material for electrometallurgy. It contains few harmful impurities and melts well. The benefit of the direct reduction scheme - the electric furnace is its low cost. Direct reduction plants are much cheaper and use less energy than blast furnaces. Direct remelting is not the only way to use sponge iron in ferrous metallurgy. It can also be used as a substitute for scrap metal in open hearth furnaces, converters and electric arc furnaces.

The Iron Age continues. Approximately 9/10 of all metals and alloys used by mankind are iron-based alloys. Iron is smelted in the world about 50 times more than aluminum, not to mention other metals. Plastics? But in our time, they most often play an independent role in various designs, and if, in accordance with tradition, they are trying to introduce them into the rank of “indispensable substitutes”, then more often they replace non-ferrous metals, not ferrous ones. Only a few percent of the plastics we consume are replacing steel. Iron-based alloys are universal, technologically advanced, available and cheap in bulk. The raw material base of this metal also does not cause concern: already explored reserves of iron ore would be enough for at least two centuries to come. Iron has long to be the foundation of civilization.

So, from the moment when iron begins to be actively used, a new, qualitative turning point in development sets in, in this case we are interested in the development of Ancient Greece. I have already said that iron has important indicators.

The most important advantage of iron over bronze is that it is a cheap metal. This metal is very common. We told you that bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. Copper is a fairly rare metal. Tin is an even rarer metal. But iron ores in various forms, they are quite common on earth. It is not necessary to have in mind a deposit like the Kursk magnetic anomaly or something else like that. There were very small deposits that were developed very quickly, but they provided the necessary metal in the historical period. So this metal is more democratic in its essence. Bronze has been for a very long time (and we will talk about it today), it is a metal for the nobility. Iron is a metal for the people, for the emerging civilian population.

The second point is that iron has a higher quality than bronze, and therefore it accelerated progress in various areas of production. Moreover, gradually, though not immediately, discoveries in the field of iron (the invention of steel, the invention of soldering, etc., this will only apply to the 7th-6th centuries, I repeat, not all at once), but this already gave a potential opportunity for the development of society.

And in many ways, it was the spread of iron that led to such a result in Greece that when we have this period of chaos, the period of regression ends, we will again have a new social structure restored, a new society on the territory of Greece. It will no longer resemble either Minoan Cretan Greece or Mycenaean Balkan Greece. This society will be fundamentally new. If we said that for the societies of the 3rd - 2nd millennia, the palace was the main structural element (we said that the palace is a kind of polyfunctional phenomenon and that the palace type of organization of the state and society is a normal, general historical organism, which was characteristic of for the ancient countries of the East, and in this regard, Europe with its Crete and its Balkan Greece, it basically went in line with the development of world civilization), now, in the first millennium, it will take shape, gradually take shape, it will not arise immediately, but it will take centuries , completely new societies.

Societies where the center will be a completely different phenomenon, not a palace, but a polis. The policy will now be the main structure-forming element. And that is why, in order to understand what this new phenomenon is, it is necessary, first of all, to determine what a policy is. Therefore, I will first talk about the policy, and then we will talk about the next historical period, about the period when this policy was formed on the territory of Greece.

That's just the next period, which will be discussed - this is the period of archaism (VIII - VI centuries BC), this is the era of the formation of the Greek policy.

The history of iron

The Iron Age (I millennium BC) is a period in the early history of mankind, which is determined by the development of metallurgy and the use of iron products (knives, axes, dishes, weapons, jewelry, etc.).

Iron Age in the system of three periods

The division of the early history of mankind into three periods of archaeological cultures: the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages was proposed by the Danish archaeologist Christian Jurgensen Thomsen to facilitate the classification of archaeological finds. Better classification of artifacts proposed by Momsen works for the archaeological finds of the Mediterranean and the Middle East. In other ancient cultures, such as the culture of Ancient China, it is more difficult to distinguish between the Bronze and Iron Ages.
The term "Iron Age" occurs much earlier, in the book "Works and Days" by Hesiod, where the history of mankind is divided into 5 epochs: golden, silver, bronze, the era of heroes and the iron era. However, this ancient division is mythological, not archaeological.
All peoples and civilizations have gone through a period of the spread of metallurgy and iron products. But the cultures of the Iron Age include only civilizations of early history, which subsequently passed the slave period.

Length of the Iron Age

The period of the Iron Age era was the shortest among other eras. It began with the Dark Ages of Greece in the 12th century BC. in Europe and the Middle East, and in the 11th century in India and Asia. It is believed that the Iron Age ended with the appearance of written history around the 3rd century BC, which gives us an idea of ​​​​the events from its direct participants (developed Hellenism and the Roman state).
In America, Australia and Oceania, the Iron Age began only with the advent of Europeans.
So to speak, we continue to live in the days of the advanced Iron Age. Iron and metallurgy have not lost their importance to this day. Until recently, the USSR was an incomparable leader in the production of iron and steel.

The discovery of iron

The early technology for obtaining and processing iron was primitive compared to modern metalworking. The oldest iron artifacts found by archaeologists were meteoric iron, or rather an alloy of iron and nickel. The extraction of iron ore and the smelting of iron began at the end of the Bronze Age. The question of where this process began: whether there was at first one center for the smelting of iron, or whether this technology arose independently in different parts of the world, is debated by archaeologists. The most common theory is that iron smelting originated in eastern Anatolia around 1200 BC.
The first technology of iron melting was cheese-blowing. A hole was dug in the ground, where ore and coal were piled in layers. A dome with a chimney was built over the pit. Air was supplied to the furnace by means of bellows. This design ensured the renewal of iron without melting - the temperature was too low. The technology was ineffective. As a result, having destroyed the furnace, a porous substance was taken out of it, which was called steel. It consisted of iron and slag. It was then compacted with the help of blacksmith hammers. Raw iron was of poor quality and brittle. It was inferior in hardness to bronze.
The advantage of iron over bronze was the availability of raw materials. Hardware from iron became better than bronze only with the beginning of the development of the process of cooking steel, which happened in the early Middle Ages. Since then, people began to use iron widely. And before that, hardware was inferior in quality to bronze, but iron ore was available and could be found almost everywhere, while the production of bronze requires copper and tin ores, the deposits of which were far away and needed transportation and trade.
With the invention of iron smelting technology, significant changes took place in human society - people received a sufficient number of tools. Virtually all household hardware, except for scissors and screws, was first made during the Iron Age.

The production and use of iron rightfully belongs to the outstanding achievements of mankind. According to F. Engels, at the turn of II-I millennium BC. e. “All civilized peoples are experiencing their heroic era, the era of the iron sword, and at the same time the iron plow and axe. Man began to serve iron, the last and most important of all types of raw materials that played a revolutionary role in history ... "

Iron as a metal became known to mankind almost simultaneously with copper, and it was processed, like copper, by forging. Sporadic finds by archaeologists of iron objects (mainly jewelry, very small in size) date back to the 4th millennium BC. e. Chemical analysis of individual objects of that time shows a high nickel content (up to 7.5%), which indicates the meteorite origin of iron. So, for example, in Egypt, in El-Hertz, during excavations of graves of the predynastic period, small beads were found made from a forged iron plate rolled into a tube.

Currently, most researchers agree that at the beginning of the III millennium BC. e. the tribes that inhabited the mountains of Armenia in the Caucasus (Hittites, Urartians, Mitani) first discovered the secret of obtaining iron from ores. Free, so-called native iron in the earth's crust, unlike copper, is extremely rare. Iron is a constituent of many minerals, of which the most widespread are magnetite, pyrite-sulfur or iron pyrite, hematite (red iron ore), iron sheen, etc. Iron melts at a temperature of 1539 ° C. This temperature, despite the improvement of blowers, in they still could not get small forges. At the beginning of the III millennium BC. e. a cheese-making process for producing iron was discovered, which during the 2nd and 1st millennium BC. e. spread throughout the world until the 14th century. AD is the only (with the exception of the crucible method, which had no great industrial value) method of producing iron.

During the cheese-making process, iron was mined from widespread and easily accessible deposits of brown iron ore, lacustrine and marsh ores: the metal was recovered from iron ore at a temperature of 800-900°C. The process took place in furnaces loaded with alternating layers of iron ore and charcoal, previously crushed and burned on an open fire. With the help of blowers (nozzles and bellows, which were first leather, and then wooden and metal), raw, unheated air was forced into the forge, from where the name of the whole process came from. As a result of the reduction, a lump of soft welded iron was formed at the bottom of the hearth - a bloom weighing from 1 to 8 kg. Kritsa consisted of soft (lightly carbonized) metal with voids filled with hardened slag formed from waste rock and fuel ash. The slag was removed from the bloom by repeated blows of the hammer. After forging, iron became of rather high quality, but the productivity of the first furnaces was very low, and the degree of extraction of iron from ores did not exceed 50%. Over time, the productivity of furnaces has increased due to the increase in the hearth space and the improvement of blowers. Very early, methods for obtaining a harder metal were also discovered - hardening and carburizing of iron products. All further achievements and inventions in ferrous metallurgy belong to a later time.

For the first time, iron objects (as a tribute to the city of Purshkhand) are mentioned at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. In the middle of the II millennium BC. e. The Hittite king Hattushil writes to the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II about sending iron to Egypt. At the same time, the Hittites penetrate into northern Syria, Palestine and Cilicia, reach Babylon in Mesopotamia, and occupy the northern regions of Egypt. Archaeologist V. Petri, during excavations in Gerar in Palestine, discovered iron openers, sickles, hoes, which he dated to the 11th century. BC e. However, iron began to be widely used in the Ancient East from the 9th-8th centuries. BC e. It was to this time that the heyday of the Assyrian power, located north of Mesopotamia, belongs. Even in the XIII century. BC e. iron objects were laid in the form of votive gifts at the laying of temples. Starting from the IX century. Assyrian documents mention iron hoes and daggers, but even at that time, iron had not yet completely replaced bronze and stone in the manufacture of tools. During the excavations of modern Khorsabad, in the palace of the Assyrian king Sargon II, who ruled in the VIII century. BC e., a warehouse of iron ingots and tools (shovels, plowshares, hoes) was found. Only from the 8th century BC e. iron is widely used. Assyrian warriors begin to make armor and weapons from it (shells, shields, helmets, swords, spears).

Iron in Greece

We first learn about the use of iron in Ancient Greece from Homer's poems The Iliad and The Odyssey. In the text of the Iliad there are 23, and in the Odyssey 25 references to iron. Blacksmiths, goldsmiths, tanners, potters, and carpenters appear in the poems. However, the process of separating craft from agriculture in ancient Greece was still at the very beginning of its development. Agriculture and cattle breeding remained the main branches of the economy. Trade was not yet of great importance; the land was the property of the communities. However, the process of property stratification was accelerating all the time. Constant wars brought in slaves. Slavery was patriarchal and limited. Unlike the countries of the Ancient East, where slaves were widely used in temple and palace households, in the construction and operation of irrigation systems, and in construction work, slaves in Ancient Greece were not engaged in either agriculture or crafts. They were used only for domestic work.

In the VII-V centuries. BC e. in Greece, as a result of the widespread distribution of iron, its penetration into all areas of the economy, a period of rapid development of the productive forces begins. The regular extraction of ores of iron and non-ferrous metals is gaining ground. The main centers of Greek metallurgy are Samos, Knossos, Corinth, Chalkis, Lakonika, Aegina, Lesbos.

Gradually, a slave-owning system was formed in Greece. Slave-owning city-states (polises) appeared. By the 4th century BC e. slavery in Greece reaches its maximum proportions. It covers all the main branches of production and becomes the dominant form of exploitation.

Free labor is almost completely replaced by slave labor, especially in handicraft production. In the first half of the 7th c. BC e. start minting coins. In connection with the development of maritime trade (in the 5th-4th centuries BC, the Athenian harbor of Piraeus became the center of maritime trade), minted coins quickly spread throughout the Mediterranean. The growth of commodity-money relations led to the third major social division of labor - there is a "class that is no longer engaged in production, but only in the exchange of products, namely merchants."

Under the influence of the development of productive forces in Greece, caused by the widespread use of iron in economic life, as well as as a result of the conquests of Alexander the Great in the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean, Western Asia during the Hellenistic period (Hellenism is a period in the history of the Eastern Mediterranean, Western Asia and the Black Sea since the conquests of Alexander the Great (IV century BC) before the subjugation of Egypt by Rome (I century BC)) the system of slave-owning states that existed there acquires new features. Everywhere there is a tremendous increase in slavery and the slave trade; slaves were settled on the land in small groups, the vast majority of their products went to the slave owner. Cities are beginning to play an important role as trade and craft centers; they began to inculcate the ancient form of slavery and the polis system, but at the same time retained many features of despotic states and, above all, the king's supreme ownership of the land. During the Hellenistic period, the Greeks founded a number of colonies in the Black Sea region, where policies also arose.

The role of iron in handicraft production

Only as a result of the widespread use of iron in production did handicrafts finally separate from agriculture. With the separation of handicrafts from agriculture, the prerequisites for production are created directly for exchange.

The basis of handicraft production in Greece was workshops - ergasteria. As a rule, from 3 to 12 slaves worked in such workshops. At the head of the workshop was either a slave owner or a slave overseer. Only in the IV millennium BC. e. there were ergasteria, uniting several dozen slaves. There was no division of labor within the workshop: as a rule, the manufacture of the finished product from start to finish was the work of one worker. However, in pottery workshops in the VI century. BC e. there was a division of labor: molding, roasting of dishes was carried out by different craftsmen.

The consequence of the technical revolution caused by the widespread use of iron was, first of all, the differentiation of handicraft production and the high level of manufacture of handicraft tools. Along with slaves, free artisans worked in handicraft production in Ancient Greece and Rome.

Blacksmithing reached a high level. In the forges there was a forge with manual double blower bellows. The central place was occupied by an iron or bronze anvil. Blacksmiths used hammers, tongs, axes, articulated tongs, chisels, vices, and drills. In the 8th century BC e. the blacksmith Glaucus of Chios invented a method for soldering iron; until that time, riveting was used.

In the processing of copper and bronze, the following operations were used: casting, forging, stamping, chasing, engraving, inlay, soldering, drawing, silvering and gilding. In the first centuries of our era, emery began to be used in Roman workshops for processing metal surfaces. Along with the previously known non-ferrous metals and alloys - copper, gold and silver - brass and antimony came into use.

High craftsmanship was achieved in bronze casting. An image of a foundry workshop is known on a black-figure vase of the 6th century BC. BC e. The workshop contained a melting furnace with a special chamber separated from the firebox; a large earthenware vessel filled with metal was placed in this melting chamber. Art objects were cast according to the wax model. At the end of the VI century. BC e. for the first time, hollow casting is used in the casting of large bronze statues. An example of a high level of handicraft technology is a construction in the 3rd century BC. BC e. giant statue of the sun god on the island of Rhodes. The iron frame of the statue was mounted on a massive pedestal; then, on this frame, the bronze cover of the statue was mounted in parts. This statue, 35 m high, was called the "Colossus of Rhodes" and was later ranked among the "seven wonders of the world."

The role of iron in construction

With the widespread use of iron tools, Greek architecture and construction began to flourish. Greek architects own one of the most important achievements of architecture - the creation of an order (a regular system of architectural forms): Doric, Ionic Corinthian.

In the classical period of Ancient Greece (V-IV centuries BC), during the rise of Athens, techniques were developed for the harmonic proportion of individual parts of buildings. This is the heyday of Greek art. Such masterpieces of world art as the Athenian acropolis Parthenon, the temple of the Wingless Victory, etc. are being created. The Parthenon was erected in 447-438. BC e. architects Iktin and Kallikrates under the direction of the Greek sculptor Phidias. In the IV century. BC e. in Epidaurus, a theater was built - one of the best monuments of building technology. Under the influence of Greek culture, the Romans adopted the order system. In the VI-I centuries. BC e. in construction technology, arched and vaulted structures are widely used, large public buildings are being erected. A giant amphitheater, the Colosseum, was built, 187.5 meters long, 156.7 meters wide and up to 46.6 meters high, accommodating up to 90 thousand people. Of the structures in which the Romans achieved great art, the huge stadium on the Field of Mars, the Flavian Palace, the arch of Titus with two triumphal reliefs are known. Of the monuments, one cannot fail to mention the famous lighthouse (known as one of the "seven wonders of the world"), built of white marble in 283 BC. e. on the island of Pharos at the entrance to the harbor of Alexandria. The Pharos lighthouse was a three-story tower 120 m high. It served not only as a lighthouse, but also protected the entrance to the port from invading enemy ships; inside the tower housed a large garrison. The lower part of the tower, built of limestone, had a square section with a side length of 30.5 m; the second floor was an octahedron; in the upper storey of a cylindrical shape, a lighthouse fire was burning. On a helical ramp, fuel for the lighthouse was lifted on donkeys. At the bottom of the tower was a huge tank with a supply of drinking water.

In construction, iron was used only in the form of staples, various kinds of paper clips, pins, puffs, but it was also widely used for the manufacture of carpentry and carpentry tools: axes, drills, hammers, longitudinal and transverse saws, chisels, cutters, chisels, planes.

Glass was inserted into the windows (during the excavations of Pompeii, small window panes measuring 4X5 cm were found) and mica (which Pliny mentions). Glass was also used to make colorful mosaics.

To check the fit of the stones and their level, the builders used a compass, a spirit level, a plumb line, a ruler, and a square. From the 5th century BC e. mechanisms for lifting weights were known (blocks, gates, chain hoists).

Quality and scope of iron

Iron, although not immediately, showed more perfect qualities compared to bronze. It is generally accepted that the improvement of the tools of labor entailed social progress.

According to most experts, the transition from bronze to iron, most likely, was realized due to practical needs. In fact, bronze tools are more durable, and their production does not require as high a temperature as iron. However, bronze has always been an expensive metal, and bronze foundry is more laborious, primarily because of the rigid dependence on sources of raw materials, primarily tin, which is much less common in nature than copper. It is estimated that even in ancient Egypt, copper mining did not exceed 7 tons per year. The Egyptians imported copper. Central Europe produced approximately 16.5 tons per year. In the Mycenaean era, 400 casters on Pylos produced 1 ton of bronze per year.

At the end of the Bronze Age, mass production of bronze tools began, which very quickly led to the depletion of tin reserves. And this caused a crisis in production, which, most likely, became an incentive for research in the field of ferrous metallurgy.

It is known that in stratified societies, metallurgy was under the control of the nobility. This concerns, first of all, bronze casting production. Iron ores were more readily available. Bog ores are found almost everywhere. This circumstance turned out to be decisive for the vast expanses of the forest zone, which in the Bronze Age lagged behind the southern regions in socio-economic development. Agricultural machinery began to improve, an iron plowshare appeared, suitable for plowing heavy forest soils. The area of ​​agriculture has expanded significantly due to the forest zone. As a result, many forests in Western Europe disappeared during the Iron Age. But even in traditionally agricultural areas, the introduction of iron contributed to the improvement of irrigation systems and the increase in field productivity.

Antique agriculture took shape in the form of non-irrigated plow agriculture, which had a commercial character. The need for land and human resources stimulated the involvement of neighboring tribes in the economic activity and gave rise to the great Greek colonization.

In the temperate zone, agriculture had a different character. For a long time it was believed that slash-and-burn agriculture originated here in the Iron Age. This happened earlier, but the Iron Age was the time of its spread. Slash-and-burn agriculture had a big drawback - the soils were quickly depleted, and they needed much more than with irrigation. Therefore, together with the undercut, they began to use two-field and three-field. In the forest-steppe, arable non-irrigated agriculture and various forms of cattle breeding developed. In the forest zone, along with arable farming, animal husbandry was practiced, in remote areas of the forest belt, especially beyond the Urals, hunting and fishing were still the basis of life.

A new economic and cultural type of nomadic pastoralists has developed in the steppe zone. It was not only a special type of economy, but also a peculiar way of life, which we will talk about later.

In agriculture, many new or more advanced tools appeared, for example, sickles, scythes, garden knives, iron plowshares and plows, axes for deforestation. Iron picks and shovels in the 5th century. BC. a tunnel was dug on the island of Samos.

According to G.Child, by the beginning of our era. all kinds of handicrafts and agricultural implements, except for the screw and hinged scissors, were already known. In the Iron Age, blacksmithing became the first professional craft. Many blacksmith tools and tools for making wooden barrels, shoes, and leatherworking appeared. In the IV century. BC. The rotary mill for grinding rock was invented. In Attica, they began to use an iron axle in wheels, but in England and Northern Europe it began to be used only at the beginning of our era. Already in the VIII century. BC. various small parts for transport began to be made from iron.

Gunsmithing has become more specialized. Steel swords, helmets appeared in armament, mass production of arrowheads was established. Back in the II millennium BC. a light horse-drawn carriage was invented, but in the Iron Age the advantage shifted to riding. In the IX-VIII centuries. BC. the Assyrians introduced permanent cavalry units, and began to use steel rims for the wheels. Assyrian tactics had their drawbacks: the death of one horseman caused the disorder of the cavalry. The rider, whose main weapon was a dart, was very vulnerable. Since there were no stirrups at that time, the rider was forced to hold the reins with one hand. If an infantryman could fire 6-7 shots per minute, then a horseman could do much less. Therefore, in Assyria, horsemen rode in twos. Later, after the introduction of the light Scythian bow and Scythian tactics, the Assyrians reformed the army.

It is known that, sitting on a horse, the Scythians fired sideways and backwards. A massive cavalry army appeared. From the 7th-6th centuries BC. Scythian arrows were introduced into all the armies of the Near and Middle East. Siege equipment has become more advanced: pontoon bridges, tunnels, siege embankments, battering rams, devices for throwing stones and burning tow. A fleet (rowing ships) appeared. Other innovations include shaduf (a crane for lifting water), gerd (a rope connected in a ring with hung leather buckets, driven by oxen), sakiya (a water-lifting wheel with a steel axle).

House building techniques have improved, architecture has become more perfect, the types of fortifications have become more complex, their distribution zone has significantly expanded to the north. Sometimes the Iron Age of Eastern Europe is called the age of settlements. Easier road construction. The exchange expanded, coins began to be minted.

Economic prerequisites accelerated the formation of complex hierarchical societies. New state formations appeared. The factor of influence of advanced civilizations on the primitive periphery came into force. According to Gordon Child, cheap hardware and the alphabet made society more democratic.

According to Jaspers, I millennium BC. is axial time. In Persia, classical Judaism and Zoroastrianism arose, in China - Confucianism, in India there was a transition from Vedism to Buddhism, Janism and other currents, in Greece - the pre-Homeric mythological cycle was replaced by classical philosophy.