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I'll regret asking this, but...<br>
<br>
as I (dimly) recall, the threshold between the bronze age and the iron
age was with the development of coal fires hot enough to smelt iron +
carbon into carbon steel. As far as I know, this technology was first
used in the west several centuries into the Common Era, though one can
find references to steel swords in one text that purports to recount
events in ancient Jerusalem -- to wit, the Book of Mormon, in which
Lehi reports being attacked by men with steel swords in Jerusalem in
the period just before the Babylonian exile.<br>
<br>
It wouldn't surprise me if steel showed up in Japan or China in the BCE
period, but wouldn't a steel-armed army pretty handily dispose of
bronze-armed opponents? If that's the case, how does one explain the
success of the (bronze-armed) Roman legions in the middle east if there
were steel-armed Scythians, or Hebrews, or Assyrians, or...<br>
<br>
Yoshiki Ohshima wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="midur839ei0a.wl@YOSHIKI-T2.mb.infoweb.ne.jp">
<pre wrap=""> Alan,
Well, I didn't mean to claim anything, but I just found it funny
that a vague "samurai swords" thing is used as a (an arbitrary)
reference point in the sword history...
-- Yoshiki
At Mon, 25 Aug 2003 10:45:51 -0800,
Alan Kay wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Yes, my recollection is that the idea of laminating steel in many
layers to make resiliant swords quite antedates Europe, and was first
developed in Asia and in the Middle East. Just as the recurve bow
already existed in China during Roman times (IIRC) and this
technology was used by the Scythians to decisively defeat the Romans
several times and effectively discourage them from occupying their
territory.
Cheers,
Alan
------
At 10:36 AM -0700 8/25/03, Yoshiki Ohshima wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap=""> Piers,
Now, it is really off-topic...
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap=""> Not that the Dark Ages were actually backwards, just that stuff
didn't tend to get written down. Take a look at the technology
involved in making, say, a Saxon sword (which used essentially the
same techniques as were developed centuries later in Japan to make
Samurai swords) or the quality of work in things like the Ardagh
Chalice.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""> What century you are talking about? (And what is
"Samurai swords", I should ask.)
-- Yoshiki
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">
--
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
</pre>
</blockquote>
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