Tag: Hematite
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3,000-Year-Old Workshop May Have Revealed The Origins of The Iron Age
New insights from a 3,000-year-old copper smelting site The Iron Age reshaped human history with new tools, stronger weapons, and transformative technologies. A 3,000-year-old workshop at Kvemo Bolnisi in southern Georgia is now offering fresh clues about how that pivotal era began. Until recently, archaeologists debated whether iron-making emerged independently or as a byproduct of…
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How Copper Smelters Accidentally Sparked the Birth of the Iron Age
Introduction: A Hidden Spark in Copper Minds The Iron Age is usually painted as a decisive leap from bronze to iron. Yet new research from Cranfield University suggests a more circuitous path: copper smelters may have stumbled upon iron metallurgy by experimenting with iron oxide as a flux. In doing so, they didn’t produce iron…
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Iron Emergence from Copper: Kvemo Bolnisi Discovery
Unearthing Kvemo Bolnisi: A 3,000-Year-Old Copper Workshop In the southern Caucasus, the Kvemo Bolnisi site in Georgia preserves a workshop dating back roughly three millennia. When archaeologists excavated the area in the mid-20th century, they unearthed caches of hematite, an iron oxide mineral, and extensive slag—byproducts of metal production. Based on those finds, the original…