A new archaeological find confirms that earlier than previously thought, craftsmen on the Iberian Peninsula used tempered steel to carve intricate motifs into solid petroglyphs during the Last Bronze Age.
Only archaeological fragments (no pun intended) of Western Iberia from the Final Bronze Age (FBA, 1200-800 BC) and Early Iron Age (EIA, 800-600 BC) is known. The stele in the area, which features carved images of anthropomorphic figures, animals, and weapons, has varying dates, with previous studies placing the stele somewhere between the 13th century BC and the 6th century AD. Positioned.
Archaeologists have conducted an analysis of Iberian stele and found that most have carvings carved into very hard rock. To date, there has been little research on the tools and carving techniques used to create these stela, including using expert masons to replicate the carvings and noting the difference between hard and soft rock.
An archaeological team led by Dr. Ralph Arrache Gonzalez has investigated stone monuments in southwestern Europe’s Iberian Peninsula to identify the types of tools used for carving.
The stele was first petrologically analyzed. Petrology is the study of thin sections of rocks using a petrography microscope, an instrument that uses polarized light oscillating in a single plane.
Many of the steles were found to originate from the Sierra de la Moraleja, an elongated highland in the Badajoz region of Spain, and to be composed of hard quartz sandstone common to this region. Two of his rocks, chosen for their compositional similarities to the original stele, were used for experimental purposes.
The researchers analyzed only the iron found at the Rocha do Vizio archaeological site in Alentejo, Portugal, and found that it was made up of 30% ferrite and 70% perlite. Three replicas of the flea he forged and one was left in the soft state for comparison. The chisels produced were considered suitable for engraving on silicate quartz sandstone.
The researchers tested an iron chisel and a chisel made of a bronze alloy on a replica stele. They found that a bronze chisel could not penetrate the surface of quartz sandstone, but an iron “Rocha do Vigio chisel” produced an almost exact replica of the original carving.
A tool made from quartzite was also tested and discarded as a possible marking tool. However, experiments revealed that only hardened steel could successfully carve stele.
“From the flea of Rocha do Vigio and the circumstances in which it was found, iron metallurgy, including the production and tempering of steel, was probably an indigenous development of small, centralized communities in Iberia and later colonized. It has been shown that it is not due to process effects,” said Arache Gonzalez.
This study demonstrates a clear relationship between stela carving and ferrous metallurgy during FBA-EIA. Given all the tools available at the time, the researchers determined that the Iberian stele could have been carved using a steel chisel.
The iron found at Rocha do Vigio alone confirms that steel was available in the days of the FBA, 2,900 years ago. Steel production he assumed was not possible in EIA and certainly not available in FBA. The steel only came into use in Europe after it was invaded by Roman armies between 200 BC and 14 AD.
“The Iberian Last Bronze Age people could temper steel, otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to make Stella,” said Arache Gonzalez. “This will also have implications for archaeological evaluation of ferrous metallurgy and quartzite carvings in other parts of the world.”
This research archaeological journal.
Source: University of Freiburg
