Since before recorded history, people have utilized iron. Evidence for the use of iron can be found as early as 4,000 b.c., but historians believe it was in use prior to that time. Early in human history, iron was expensive and precious. The technology of how to press it was a closely guarded military secret that gave those nations possessing the knowledge a strategic advantage in weapon production over neighboring nations who only knew how to produce duller and weaker bronze weapons.

Originally, iron was obtained from meteorite deposits, but as those supplies dwindled, the method of reduction of iron ore in furnaces was developed. By 1200 b.c., iron smelting techniques had made iron a viable material for all weapons and tools. Because of the relatively low temperatures attainable from furnaces prior to the Middle Ages, repeated heating and hammering in a hot charcoal fire was...