Early Iron from Kinet Höyük, Turkey: Analysis of Objects and Evidence for Smithing

Abstract

Kinet Höyük (ancient Issos), located in Cilicia on a narrow corridor between the seacoast of the East Mediterranean and the Amanus mountains (Nur Dağları), is an archaeological site with 29 excavated occupational levels, starting from the Early Bronze Age. The successive settlements at Kinet Höyük faced many military campaigns and changed hands frequently because of its strategic position with access to shipping routes, and the availability of rich mining and forestry resources. However, iron smithing was one of the activities that changed least during the transformations occurring in the region, according to iron-related finds from different occupational levels at the site. In this paper, iron objects and smithing slags from the Iron Age period at Kinet are introduced from their metallurgical perspective. The results of metallography and SEM-EDX analysis of Iron Age steel objects are discussed in light of previous studies on iron metallurgy of the neighboring regions. Additionally, slags which are dated to the site’s Neo-Assyrian phase are evaluated by petrography, ICP-MS and XRD analysis. Although all of the iron objects are fully corroded, remnant metal observations point to a variety of microstructural phases. The majority belong to medium- and high-carbon steel structures that were affected by heat treatments, i.e. normalizing, and annealing. Plentiful hammerscale were detected in thin sections of smithing slags. Basalt attachments to slags are considered to reflect the presence of basalt in the smithing hearths and other pyrotechnical settings.