during the Hittites period, why is iron considered rare?

Question

please give sources like websites

Answer 1

About 2000 B.C. the Indo-European- speaking Hittites appeared in northern Asia Minor, a region rich in iron. In 1650 B.C. the Hittites began building a powerful empire. They extended their control in Asia Minor, seized northern Syria from the Egyptians, and expanded into northern Mesopotamia, where they conquered the Babylonians. Hittite culture was greatly influenced by contacts with the Babylonians. While they were less advanced than the peoples of Mesopotamia, they had learned to extract iron from ore - they were the first to make tools and weapons of iron. The Hittites heated iron ore and pounded out impurities before plunging it into cold water. The tools and weapons they made with iron were harder and had sharper edges than those made out of bronze or copper. Because iron was plentiful, the Hittites were able to arm more people at less expense.




Hittite Statue

The Hittites tried to keep this valuable technology secret. But as their empire collapsed about 1200 B.C., Hittite ironsmiths migrated to serve customers elsewhere. The new knowledge thus spread across Asia, Africa, and Europe, ushering in the Iron Age.

The Assyrians began expanding their power into the Fertile Crescent around 1100 B.C. The Hittite Empire fell in 1200 B.C., but had survived for 450 years.

http://home.cfl.rr.com/crossland/AncientCivilizations/Middle_East_Civilizations/Hittites/hittites.html
Iron - The secret weapon?

Her armies would surprise the Egyptians at Kadesh, deliver Samaria, the capital of the Kingdom of Israel, from a Syrian army, and overwhelm the defenders of Babylon. The Hittites seemingly appeared out of nowhere, struck decisively, and then, almost as quickly, disappeared. From a distance, success seemed only explainable in mythical terms, unrelated to superior tactics, training or fighting ability. There was the suspicion (or hope) that it was the iron in their weapons that gave them an edge. The primitive bronze weapons of their enemies broke against the iron blades wielded by the Hittite soldiers. The story of an advanced race of people, with an advanced technology, reinforced the special status conferred by their mention in the Bible. Perhaps the saviors of the Israelites were human agents of a Divine plan of retribution or salvation. The secret of iron had been revealed to them as part of that plan. The Hittite legend is not entirely false, since they are credited with the "discovery" or development of iron technology, even if their exploits have been somewhat embellished with time.

Iron probably was not the mythical secret weapon which explained Hittite military success. However, they did develop a smelting process capable of producing iron tools, weapons, and ornamental objects. Their process was the result of years of metal-working experience, not simply an accidental byproduct of an iron rock falling into a fire.

Discovering that rocks can melt...
The melting temperature of three metals, iron, copper, and tin, is at the heart of the Hittite discovery. Iron has .....
http://www.periclespress.com/Hittites_iron.html

Hittite sites don't have a great quantity of iron objects, and on the face of it it looks as if there was no significant iron and steel industry in Anatolia. A letter from the Hittite King Hassitulis III, written about 1250 BC, makes excuses for not delivering a shipment of iron to Shalmeneser I of Assyria, and presents him with an iron dagger blade. This has sometimes been taken as evidence that the Hittites had an extensive iron production, but if a single dagger blade could appease the King of Assyria, it is unlikely that any quantities of iron were available at all, no matter what the payment or threat from Assyria. The Hittites gave an iron throne to the earlier Middle Bronze Age monarch, King Anitta of Kanesh, and a tub, small figurines, and ornamental jewelry are also mentioned as being made of iron, again underlining the rarity and therefore the high value of the metal. Hittite texts make the distinction between meteoritic iron (referred to as black iron of heaven) and terrestrial (smelted) iron. If the relatively tiny quantities of meteoritic iron were worth mentioning at all, it again shows the small quantity of smelted iron available. Perhaps the Hittites had secrets of iron or steel technology, but if so, they were obviously related to quality rather than quantity of output.

http://www.geology.ucdavis.edu/~cowen/~GEL115/115CH5.html
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/trade/iron.htm
http://i-cias.com/e.o/hittites.htm

Answer 2

Hittites Iron

Answer 3

Iron was neither mined nor smelted by the Hittite Civilization to any great degree. They lacked the technology to mass produce sufficient quantities of the refined metal.

Answer 4

the Hittites were part of the bronze age, meaning that the tech was not availiable to mine or forge iron