I wrote:
> There have been some recent archeological studies relevant to this issue.
> Robert Drews, in _The End of the Bronze Age_, pp. 75-76, gives some
> information (and references) about the physical evidence for the spread
> of iron. In particular there was a study of weapons finds throughout
> the near east.
>
> 12th century BC 96+ % Bronze 3+ % Iron
> 11th century BC 80 % Bronze 20 % Iron
> 10th century BC 46 % Bronze 54 % Iron
>
> He also cites a study indicating that iron weapons were not common in
> 12th century BC Greece.
> The implication seems to be that while there was some early knowledge of
> iron working, its extensive use for military purposes came about well
> after the fall of the Hittite Empire and the Mycenaean palaces.
and Michal Milewski wrote:
> So it looks like Hettites did not arm whole armies with iron swords.
Yes, with the probable exception of the Neo-Hittite kingdoms of
Cilicia and Northern Syria. Some of these survived until c. 800 BC,
well after iron weapons became prevalent, but I don't think you had
them in mind.
> Maybe before the invasion of Sea Peoples, they just didn't have
> any problems with bronze (access to tin), so iron was not needed?
The civilized world of the Eastern Mediterranean was reasonably stable
until the fall of the Hittite Empire c. 1200 BC, so I would doubt they
had any special problems with obtaining tin until Hattusas was sacked.
During the chaotic centuries that followed the trade routes in the
area may well have been disrupted, encouraging the use of iron. So
the Sea Peoples, etc. rather than benefiting from the wider use of
iron, may have caused it.
> Are there any written records about Egyptians (or any other nation)
> fighting Hettite soldiers armed with iron weapons?
The last major battle between the Hittites and the Egyptians was Kadesh,
c. 1275 BC. The Egyptian accounts are largely bragging about the
supposed accomplishments of Ramesses II on the battlefield. They give
some interesting information about the Hittite Army, but I don't recall
anything about the metals used in the weapons.
Later in the century the Hittites under Tudkhaliyas IV, their last
strong emperor, went to war against the Assyrian Empire of Tukulti-
Ninurta I. They came off rather the worse in this campaign, so they
certainly did not have any decisive superiority in weaponry.
> Does the book, cited in your post, mention where the earliest large
> amounts of iron weapons were discovered? And who could be the owner?
Drews did not go into detail about this in _The End of the Bronze Age_.
His intent in that chapter was to show (convincingly, to my mind) that
iron weapons could not have been responsible for the disasters of
c. 1200 BC. The numbers I gave above were taken by Drews from Jane
Waldbaum, _From Bronze to Iron: The Transition from the Bronze Age
to the Iron Age in the Eastern Mediterranean_, Studies in
Mediterranean Archaeology, vol. 54 (Goteborg, 1978), which was
originally a 1968 Harvard Ph.D. dissertation. I suspect you can find
a lot more numbers and some regional breakdowns there. I have not
seen it myself.
Glenn McDavid
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