Review

Author(s): James Muhly

Review by: James Muhly
Source: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 347 (Aug., 2007), pp. 112-114
Published by: American Schools of Oriental Research
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25067027
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 112BOOK REVIEWS BASOR 347

the final publication of Ashdod is a tremendous achievement such, it represents Volume V in the series of final exca
and a fitting memorial to the work of Moshe Dothan. vation reports entitled Archaeology at theNorth-East Ana
tolian Frontier. The book represents the revised version of
Daniel M. Master McConchie's doctoral dissertation completed in 1998. Vol
Wheaton College ume I in this series,An Historical Geography and a Field
daniel.m.master@wheaton.edu Survey of the Bayburt Province, by Antonio and Claudia

Sagona, was also published in 2004.

REFERENCES McConchie is interested in the technological aspects of

iron production and ironworking, but also in the socioeco

Ben-Shlomo, D. nomic, political, and symbolic aspects of iron usage. For

2003 The IronAge Sequence of Tel Ashdod: A Re McConchie, these two aspects of the beginnings of iron

joinder to "AshdodRevisited" by I. Finkelstein metallurgy are deeply interconnected. She feels that pre
and L. Singer-Avitz. Tel Aviv 30: 83-107. vious research on the beginnings of iron metallurgy has

Dothan, M. been driven by an obsessive interest in technology. It was

1971 Ashdod 11-111:The Second and Third Seasons the desire to turn soft wrought iron into a metal actually
ofExcavations 1963, 1965, Soundings in 1967. harder and to bronze,
superior able to take a sharper and

cAtiqot 9-10. Jerusalem: of Antiq more durable

cutting edge, that stimulated the experimen
Department
uities and Museums. tation and increased use of iron during the period ca. 1250

Dothan, M. and Freedman, D. N. 750 B.c. To accomplish this, itwas necessary to master the
1967 Ashdod I: The First Season of Excavations, special technology of ironworking, comprising carburi
1962. cAtiqot 7. Jerusalem: Department of An zation, quenching, and tempering, resulting in a steeled

tiquities and Museums. iron that, as a utilitarian metal, was far superior to anything

Dothan, M., and Porath, Y made of bronze.

1982 Ashdod IV: Excavation ofArea M. The Fortifi This basic reconstruction, McConchie insists, is simply
cations of the Lower City. cAtiqot 15. Jerusa not correct. It is not supported by the available analytical
lem: Department of Antiquities and Museums. evidence, especially when that evidence is correctly in
1993 Ashdod V: Excavation of Area G. The Fourth terpreted. As late as the seventh century b.c., as McConchie
Sixth Seasons of Excavations 1968-1970. cAtiqot points out (pp. 17, 138-39), the armies of Assyria and
23. Israel Antiquities
Jerusalem: Authority. Urartu were stillmarching intobattle equipped with iron
Dothan, T, and Zukerman, A. swords and daggers that were often made of nothing more
2004 A Preliminary Study of theMycenaean IIIC:1 than simple wrought iron. According to the analytical work

Pottery Assemblages from Tel Miqne-Ekron published in the 1970s and 1980s, the technologynecessary
and Ashdod. Bulletin of the American Schools to take that wrought iron dagger and turn it into a far more

of Oriental Research 333: 1-54. effectiveweapon made of steeled iron, one that had been
carburized and quenched, had been available since at least
the tenth century b.c. Why was it not used?

Archaeology at the North-East Anatolian Frontier, McConchie has two answers to that question. The first
V: Iron Technology and Iron-making Communities is that the basic technology in question simply did not
of the First Millennium bc, by Matasha McCon exist: previous investigators, she claims, have seriously
chie. Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Supplement misread their own photomicrographs and have presented a

13. Louvain: Peeters, 2004. XXI + 393 pp., 205 fig very misleading account of the development of early iron

ures, 5 plates, 38 tables. Cloth. 90.00. working technology. The second answer is that, according
toMcConchie, early Iron Age societies in the eastern Med
Matasha McConchie has a remarkable book, iterranean and the ancient Near East were simply not much
produced
most informative and interesting and, at the same time, very interested in the hardness and sharpness of their iron tools

puzzling?quite an accomplishment for a book dealing and weapons (p. 34). Such matters represent modern, not
Anatolia during thefirst
with work in iron in northeastern ancient concerns (pp. 20, 141). Far more important was
millennium b.c. In historical terms, this means dealing with the cultural and the symbolic value of the iron itself (pp.

pre-Urartian, Urartian, and post-Urartian ironwork. The au 35, 136). The important thing was to have objects of iron;
thor also deals, to some extent, with western Iran, meaning the physical properties of that iron were of secondary im
Luristan and Hasanlu. The basic purpose of this book is to portance. I will first deal with the second of these two

publish the iron artifacts found during the course of exca arguments.
vations at the sites of B?y?ktepe Hdy?k and Sos Hoy?k, McConchie repeatedly asserts that, for the Assyrians
conducted by Antonio Sagona on behalf of Melbourne and Urartians, iron had symbolic value (pp. 14, 136, 138,
University (for location of sites see map, p. 266, fig. 9). As 181), but no evidence is ever presented in support of these

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 2007 BOOK REVIEWS 113

assertions.We are simply told that this was the case. This that they could never have been written by an archaeolo
is not very convincing, but also not all that surprising, for gist. Take, as an example, the statement on p. 31, a discus
I believe that the evidence needed to support such asser sion of work on an early iron knife from Tomb 106 at
tions simply does not exist. For any understanding of the Idalion, Cyprus. According toMcConchie, the photograph
social and cultural implications of ironworking, one has made by Maddin "displays allotriomorphic ferrite networks
to turn to early modem Africa. Amidst a vast literature with Widmenst?tten [sic] side plates surrounding an un

dealing with African ironworking, two studies have to be resolved matrix that is more likely to be pearlite." As a
mentioned: Mining and Metallurgy inNegro Africa, by reviewer I can pursue this matter no further. I do feel, how
Walter Cline (1937), and Iron, Gender, and Power: Rituals ever, that anyone using this book is going to want answers

of Transformation in African Societies, by Eugenia W. Her to these questions.

bert (1993). Herbert (p. 18) quotes Cline (p. 114) to the What about the early development of ironworking tech
effect that the varied forms of the ritualization of iron nology and thepublications byMaddin, Muhly, and Stech?
"depend rather on other conditions within the culture than Obviously I am not going to use this review as a platform
on a particular set of social and
religious attitudes which for defending previously published work. That would be
the craft carries with it" or, as Herbert puts it, "on some totally inappropriate. Fortunately, such a defense is not nec

mystical quality ascribed uniquely to iron." I fully agree essary, at least not at this time. The reason for this is that
and would argue that these observations apply equally to all of our disagreements really center around one funda
ironworking in northeastern Anatolia during the first mil mental issue, that of deliberate or intentional carburization.
lennium B.c. So much for iron symbolism among the king Nor is this really an issue first raised by McConchie. The
doms of Assyria and Urartu. battle lines involved here were first drawn by J. E. Rehder,
McConchie's other argument involves far more com in an article published in 1989 (Rehder 1989).
plex issues. Here, as a reviewer, I find myself rather be I thinkthebest way to approach thisproblem is to start
tween a rock and a hard place. This is due to the fact that with some quotations from one of the standard reference

virtually all
the analytical work on early iron artifacts, al works in thefield,The Early History ofMetallurgy inEu
luded to above, has been carried out by the team of Maddin, rope, by R. F. Tylecote (1987), one of themajor figures in
Muhly, and Stech. Thus the reviewer finds himself on the thefieldof archaeometallurgyin thesecond half of the20th
receiving end of most of McConchie's critical comments. century a.d. the surface carburization of iron,
Regarding
It is true that the real metallurgy in all these articles repre Tylecote states (p. 271):
sented the work of my metallurgical colleague, Robert

Maddin, but they were all joint articles: we worked on them From about1000 bc steeling was introduced into the

them together, and all three of us take Levant and Egypt by the surface carburization of iron
together, discussed
tools. We begin to see this technique in Europe from
responsibility for their contents. I am an ancient historian,
about 1100 bc as shown by two examples from Idalion in
Stech is an archaeologist, and Maddin a metallurgist. We
Cyprus. No. 106 is dated to between 1150 and 1050 bc
took the samples together and published them together.
and the blade was found to contain appreciable residual
This bringsme to thegreatpuzzle involved in tryingto martensite in a mass of rust. This had a hardness of 385
evaluate this monograph
by Matasha McConchie. The book HV and there is no doubt that it is a heat-treated steel. . ..
is a lavishproduction, full of excellent photomicrographs
Carburizing is a very slow process. ... it requires a time
and diagrams. The objects that receive full analytical treat
of 6 h to get carbon to penetrate a distance of 2 mm at
ment, including metallography and chemical analyses, make
900?C. It needs patience and skill to carburize a finished
up her Appendix A (pp. 271-382). There are 34 of them,
tool or weapon under these conditions. This is one of the
7 Urartian and 27 post-Urartian. This appendix represents reasons why the results in the early period are so haphaz
the most elaborate treatment ever given to any group of an ard and why the smith frequently failed to achieve success.
cient iron artifacts. One object, DB 56, a single-edged knife
from B?y?ktepe Hoy?k, gets three pages of text and 25 il All of this is quite straightforward, standard textbook
lustrations. Another single-edged knife from the same site, exposition. About the only scholars I know of who would
DB 88, gets four pages of text and 37 illustrations. Is this disagree with Tylecote's account of early carburization are

really necessary or is it overkill? I am sure that all readers McConchie and Rehder and, as we shall see, it is not clear
will have their own answers to that question. thatMcConchie actually does disagree.
Far more serious is the question: who did all this work? The two knives from Idalion mentioned by Tylecote
Who polished all the samples, took all the photomicro were studiedby the Swedish metallurgist Eric Tholander,
graphs, and
interpreted the documented structures? On the in 1971, and by RobertMaddin, in 1982.McConchie con
surface things, all this work was done by McConchie
of cludes that "the evidence presented for quench-hardening

herself; there is no statement made suggesting anything is not convincing" (p. 31). Regarding an arrowhead from
else. Is this possible? McConchie writes like an archaeol Toprakkale, she says that "there is little to suggest deliber

ogist, but there are many sections of this book so technical ate carburization" (p. 27). This is the case for almost all

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 114BOOK REVIEWS BASOR 347

early examples of carburization in the existing literature. sent, but the assembly was diverse. gives some
This book
She concludes that "While it is theoreticallypossible to new information and continuing disagreements. This re
achieve a requisite ratio in an open fuel bed to view will list the contents and comment as space allows.
CO/C02
carburize an iron object of some thickness, it is unlikely After a foreword by John J. Collins, Katharina Galor
to have been the method by which carbon found its way and J?rgen Zangenberg offer "Qumran Archaeology in
into most early steel objects" (p. 29, n. 115). But she has Search of a Consensus." They were good hosts, but some
no other possibility to suggest. Moreover, on several occa assertions in this introduction could well be read with a

sions, she seems willing to admit that such carburization grain of Dead Sea salt. On page 1 : "None of the conference
could take place.So, on p. 24, n. 74, she states that "an participants would want to artificially separate the Qumran
hour's durationin the smithing fire at a temperature of texts from their archaeological context or vice versa." Let
940?C would have resulted in a 0.3 mm depth of carbur each reader decide. Page 2: "In the late 1980s and early
ization at a carbon level of about 0.75%." That seems tome 1990s ... the first dissenting voices were raised about the
to be in keeping with what all other scholars have said about Essene character of the site." This is false: few subjects
this process. Again, on p. 28, n. 110, she says that, using have been as perennially contested as Qumran. De Vaux
the process described above, "Carburisation in this manner was not one of the first to associate Essenes with Qumran;
would require a long spell in the forge fire to achieve a hy dissenters were abundant. A myth of three history of schol

pereutectoid core. For example at a forge hearth tempera arship phases?a void; a de Vaux-alone era; and light now
ture of 940?C, 0.8% carbon content would be possible
only dawning?will not do. The introduction ventures a dichot
at a depth of 0.6 mm after 4 hours." To my knowledge, no omy between archaeological and literary work, somehow
one has ever claimed anything to the contrary. The carbur unsatisfactorily categorizing the distinguished dirt archae
ization was only on the surface of the artifact, with minimal ologist JodiMagness with the latter,as if she did not first
penetration into the interior. That is why it is best to speak look to the material realia. Herfine paper, "Why Scroll
of ancient steeled artifacts, as Tylecote is careful to do, Jars?," is published elsewhere (Magness 2004). If one seeks
because steel is a homogeneous a dichotomy, it should divide those who try to con
product. perhaps
At this point the attentive reader will surely ask, what sider all the evidence from those who selectively bracket
is going on? McConchie seems to accept in her footnotes off and ignore some evidence.
what she rejects in her text. I have gone into this in some Jean-Baptiste Humbert, "Some Remarks on the Archae
detail because I want tomake clear that this is an important, ology of Qumran," elaborates on his proposal that Qumran

very impressive book, one that is likely to become a stan was first secular, then Essene, including sacri
religious
dard reference work in the field of early iron metallurgy. fices. He claims (p. 29) that de Vaux and Magness had a
It is also a book with serious ambiguities and apparent priori commitments to Essene use of the site. But this is
contradictions. I really do not know what to make of this merely asserted, not shown. De Vaux was convinced by
I have never seen like it. evidence as he dug. De Vaux made some mistakes
volume; anything quite (e.g., in
not leaving enough undisturbed area for later researchers).

James Muhly Humbert controls the remains from de Vaux's dig. I am not

University of Pennsylvania the only one to hope that he will either speed the publica
jimmuhly @ yahoo.com tion, without waiting for commentaries, or allow open ac
cess to all.

REFERENCE James F. Strange, "The 1996 Excavations at Qumran

and the Context of the New HebrewOstracon," helpfully
Rehder, J. E. reviews the technical means of attempting remote viewing
1989 Ancient Carburization of Iron to Steel. Archeo and the ostracon setting, misreported in some secondary
materials 3: 21-31. literature.
Yizhak Magen and Yuval Peleg, "Back to Qumran: Ten
Years of Excavation and Research, 1993-2004," give a pre
The Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Archaeological liminary report. The book's introduction suggests that until

Interpretations and Debates: Proceedings of a de Vaux's work is completely published, "we will have to
Conference Held at Brown University, November turn to Magen and Peleg for the most reliable and com

17-19,2002, edited by Katharina Galor, Jean-Bap plete picture of the Qumran material culture ..."
(p. 5)?
tiste Humbert, and J?rgen Zangenberg. Studies an imprudent recommendation, given that this preliminary
on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, Volume 57. publication, largelybased on digging in dumps, ismuch
Leiden: Brill, 2006. x + 308 pp. 127 figures, 10 ta less completely published and evaluated than de Vaux's.
bles. Cloth. $147.00. (The best current overview isMagness 2002.) Magen and

Peleg suggest Qumran was first a "fortress," though its

This Qumran which I attended, walls are not fortified, and secondly a pottery manufactur
archaeology conference,
offered A few key scholars were ab ing center, despite its unfavorable location for exporting
lively disagreements.

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