Out of the Fiery Furnace: The Impact of Metals on the History of Mankind by Robert Raymond

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TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 673 number of problems. The first difficulty is with the chronology of the European Early Bronze Age. Penhallurick sees a gap of 300 years between the beginnings of the European and the British EBA, when there is probably little, or no, difference. Second, the dating of the working of Cornish tin grounds is not precise, being based on typologi­ cal comparison. Third, tin bronze in Europe is probably no earlier than tin bronze in Britain. Fourth, no artifacts of prehistoric type have been found in the Erzgebirge tin fields. James Muhly has argued (AmericanJournal ofArchaeology 89 [1985]: 288—90; and Archeomaterials 2, no. 1 [1987]: 99—107) that tin in the Erzgebirge was inaccessible to Bronze Age miners. Again, Penhallur­ ick shows us that we have misunderstood the geological setting of the tin. He points out that there are more productive placers and shode deposits in the Erzgebirge than in Cornwall, and tin occurs in decom­ posed feldspars like kaolin and chlorite that easily could be mined. Thus, while tin could have been obtained from this eastern European source, there is no artifactual evidence that it did, and classical authors are strangely silent on the subject of tin from this area. A short review can touch on only a few major points (see Muhly in Archeomaterials for many more details), but it would be unfair to leave the reader without a sense of the zest in Tin in Antiquity. Cornish miners and antiquaries of the 18th and 19th centuries believed strongly in the myth of the Phoenician presence in Cornwall, perhaps because oftheir fanatical Methodism. In Sir Frederick Leighton’s “Phoenicians Bartering with Britons” (1894), Cornish ladies drape themselves in Asian textiles while their men offer tin ingots and fleeces in exchange. Cornish tin shipped in Phoenician bottoms to adorn Solomon’s temple was an article of faith, as was Jesus’ visit to Cornwall with Joseph of Arimathea to learn how to work tin. The ultimate heresy is the 19thcentury attribution of clotted cream—that superb specialty of Corn­ wall and Devon—to the Levant. Phoenicians and Jesus’ travels no longer figure in British prehistory, but, thanks to Penhallurick, the importance of Cornwall and its tin deposits remains firm. Tamara Stech Dr. Stech is a member of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the editor of the journal Archeomaterials. Out of the Fiery Furnace: The Impact of Metals on the History of Mankind. By Robert Raymond. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1986. Pp. xiv + 274; illustrations, notes, index. $35 (cloth); $20 (paper); $10 (study guide). This is an account of the principal events in the development of metallurgy from the earliest times to the present, with discussions of 674 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE their influence on society. It is based on a series of television programs and is intended for general readers. Books for the nonspecialist reader about technology and its consequences are in short supply, and there is a particular need for works suitable for use in schools. Out of the Fiery Furnace should, therefore, be welcome and does have some im­ portant strengths. Unfortunately, these are vitiated by its defects. It is comprehensive but of reasonable length; it is well illustrated; most important, it has a worldwide viewpoint and avoids the preoc­ cupation with southwest Asia and Europe that in the past limited the scope of archaeological and historical metallurgy. Robert Raymond’s coverage of those aspects of metallurgy for which the evidence derives primarily from archaeology brings together material not easily found in any other single source. His use of the results of recent reconstruc­ tions of ancient smelting procedures is particularly effective in giving us a sense of mankind’s early experience with metals. But once Ray­ mond reaches the historic period, where the experience is more com­ plex and the record more detailed, his method and style lead straight to disaster. There are many errors of fact that should have been detected by the editing we expect in a work published by a university press. (Zinc does not have the same specific gravity as rock; the Statue of Liberty was...