Metallurgy, Society and the Bronze/Iron Transition in the East Mediterranean and the Near East

~I ' ! SYDNEY PICKLES and EDGAR PELTENBURG METALLURGY, SOCIETY AND THE BRONZE/IRON TRANSITION IN THE EAST MEDITERRANEAN AND THE NEAR EAST Reprinted from the Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus 1998 NICOSIA 1998 METALLURGY, SOCIETY AND THE BRONZE/IRON TRANSITION IN THE EAST MEDITERRANEAN AND THE NEAR EAST Sydney Pickles and Edgar Peltenburg INTRODUCTION Stage 2. Iron began to be used for utilitarian objects but bronze still predominated. In so fa r as it refers to the chronological sequ ence of dominant technologies in the Old World, Stage 3. Iron was in general use for utilitarian the three ages concept of archaeological classifi objects. cation cannot -be challenged. Difficul ties arise Towards the end of the 13th century B.C. the when attempts are made to specify precise bound archaeological record of the Near East shows in aries between the epochs, both chronologically creasing use of iron for cutting tools and other and technologically, and to associate distinctive working implements (McGovern 1987, Stech cultural patterns wi th the technological phases. Wheeler et al. 1981, McNutt 1990), gradually re Some increase in cultural complexity was neces placing bronze and even wood and stone for uses sary for metallurgical innovation to be possible, for which metal had hitherto been too costly a lu but the material cultures and social orders were xury, e.g. its use for ploughshares made possible themselves drastically changed by the availability the culti vati on of ground previously considered and use of metals, initially by an elite but later, in too hard. In the Eastern Mediterranean this pro the Iron Age, by even the humblest ploughman in cess occupied most of the 12th, 11 th and 10th the fields. Furthermore, the fact that these changes centuries, and is regarded as the transition from took place at different times in different parts of the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. the world impacts on the question of interactions Early smelted iron was a rather unsatisfactory and influences between ancient peoples, and on material, greatly inferior to bronze in most res the argument of diffusion versus independent in pects. It could not be melted and cast, but had to vention. be consolidated by repeatedly heating and ham Waldbaum (I 978) has surveyed the published mering to expel the slag and produce sinter fu archaeological fi nds of iron obj ects from the sion. The same process, known as forgi ng, was ancient Near East. She listed 14 items dated earli used to fabricate objects. The metal thus produ er than 3000 B.C., 8 between 2000 and 1600 B.C., ced, though harder than unalloyed copper, was and 74 corresponding to the Late Bronze Age, much softer than bronze for cutting purposes, and between 1600 and 1200 B. C. Al I the objects dated rusted rapidly in a damp environment. Despite before 1600 B.C. were of jewellery or from pres these failings, once a demand had been created fo r tigious contexts, pointing to the high value placed iron the abundance of its ores made it possible for upon iron at that time. This contrasts with Sher the first time to produce a metal which was rela ratt's (1994) admittedly incomplete list of 199 tively cheap and widely available. iron objects from the 12th and 11 th centuries in By the start of the 12th century the numbers of the Near East, not including 62 from Cypro-Geo utilitarian objects made of iron (mostly in tombs) metric tombs at Kouklia-Skales. began to increase in Cyprus, Syria, Palestine and A useful analysis of the long gestation time the Aegean (Laszlo 1977, McN utt 1990, Sherratt for the adoption of iron was put forward by Snod 1994, Waldbaum 1978), though they were greatly grass (197 1) who envisaged three stages in the outnumbered by those of bronze. During the Late progress of iron technology:- Cypriot lllA period (c. 1200-1170 B.C.) the trend Stage l. Iron was used for ornaments and towards iron intensified, and innovative types prestige items. such as the iron pike from Tomb 417 at Lapithos 68 SYDNEY PICKLES AND EDGAR PELTENBURG showed adaptation to the new material. ~arburisa However, they all related to one site in one part of tion and quenching, which have been identifi ed in the Near East, with no known association with tin many of the single-edged iron kn ives produced in production. It was clearly desirable to extend the Cyprus at this time (Tholander 197 1; Astrom et study to sites in other regions to see if a consistent al. 1986; Muhly et al. 1990) would have given a pattern were maintained. steel with a better cutting edge than bronze (Tho Inevitably, the ava il abil ity of archaeological lander 197 1; Tylecote 1980). material dictated the scope for further work, and Prior to the introduction of carburisation and the authors thank Prof. Hartmut KUhne for mak quenching, and until the economic advantages of ing available the whole of the bronze fi nds from cheap, locall y available raw materials were appre his excavations at the Syri an sites of Tell Bderi ciated there would seem to be little reason for the and Tell Sheikh Hamad, Prof. George Bass for widespread use of iron. These considerations have material frum the Cape Gelidonya shipwreck, led to speculations that some external factors Prof. Paul Astrom for the Hala Sultan Tekke (Cy might have been responsible for the relati vely prus) bronzes and Dr Jonathan Tubb fo r access to rapid increase in iron production after such a long the bronzes from the Briti sh Museum excavations period of apparent indifference and for the social at Tell es Sa'idiyeh (Fig. I). and economic changes which may have resulted. A catalogue of the items analysed is given in For some years the most popular idea was that Table 1. propounded by Snodgrass (197 I , 1980) and oth ers, that a shortage of tin, caused either by exhau stion of known tin deposits or by disruption of THE SITES international trade routes was the prime factor in Tell Bderi and Tell Sheikh Hamad promoting the use of this seemingly inferior sub stitute for bronze. Rescue excavations at Tell Sheikh Hamad and Tell Bderi, in eastern Syria, were part of an interdisciplinary Other hypotheses have been postulated, such research project under the direction of Prof. Dr Hartmut as fuel shortage (Wertime 1982), or Sherratt's so Kiihne of the Freie Un iversitat Berlin, prior to the con ciological arguments (S herratt 1994) , and these struction of the Habur hydroelectric reservoi r ( Kiihne will be discussed later. Meanwhile, the possibility 1983, 1984, 1986/7, 1989/90, 1990, 1991) . of tin scarcity as a result of disruptions to main ly Tell Bderi is located c.25km. south of the provi ncial palace-based trading networks in the 13th-12th capital of Hasaka, on the right bank of the Habur river. centuries is sti ll open to evaluation through scien The excavation was undertaken by Prof. Dr Peter Pfalzn tifi c analysis. er ( l 989/90). In the first half of the Early Bronze Age (Early Dynastic l/11) the site held a large walled town Waldbaum (l 978) ori gin all y favoured the wh ich, between Early Dynastic Il/lll to the start of Akka Snodgrass hypothesis, but suggested that it might dian times, spread to an area of 5-6 hectares, covered be tested by chemical analyses of a substantial mainly by interconnecting, small-roomed houses. The number of bronze artefacts dated to the period of latest 3rd mi llennium houses were all destroyed at the the Bronze Age/Iron Age transition. A shortage of same time, after which a hiatus in the Middle Bronze Age tin might be expected to show up as a reduced was followed by a revival in the Late Bronze Age, with concentration of the element in the bronzes, with more complex. larger-roomed houses than in the EBA its possible total or partial replacement by other town. hardening additives such as arsenic, antimony, or In the Middle Assyrian period a deep, rectilinear pit zinc. The present work is a continuation of stud 4.5X6m. was sunk to the west of a Mittanian road. At a ies undertaken in response to Waldbaum's sug depth of 11 meters the bottom had still not been reached. gestion. T he fill was uniform from top to bottom, and fragments of a foundation c~ linder show that the pit was all fi lled at Initiall y a study was made of items from LC the same time. Builders· marks give the town name Dur IIIA Kouklia in Western Cyprus (Pickles 1988). Assur-kitte-llslr and inscribed burned clay cylinders pro These analyses showed the tin contents to be gen vide a rer111i1111s posr quem for the fill as the reign of erally high, with no suggestion of a shortage. Tiglath-Pileser I ( 1114-1076 B.C.). ~IETALLURGY. SOCIETY AN D THE BRONZE/IRON TRANSITION IN THE EAST MEDITERRANEAN AND THE NEAR EAST 69 Table I . Caial ogue of anal ysed bronze objects. Cat. ITEM CONTEXT DESCRIPTION PERIOD No. OBJECTS FROM TELL DDERJ I BD 149 274511 ;T2, Pendan t. fair ly large 1114 - 1076 BC 2 BD346 2745 II; F'S314 F'ibula (?). Middle Assyri an 1114 - 1076 BC 3 BD 198 2745 II ; F'S277 Fragment (rod?) II 14 - 1076 BC 4 BD224 2745 II ; T2, FS247 Fragmen t of sheet l 5 x 3 mm 1114-10761:SC 5 BD275 2745 ; T2. FS247 Pin or nail (2 fragments) 1114- I 076I3C 6 BD 252 2745 Ill ; T3.

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