Raw materials and art – 36. Iron and warrior figure with spear and shield

2023-07-31 06:02:33

Switzerland is a hub for commodity trading. Did you know that this activity represents 4% of Swiss GDP, and even 22% of tax revenue for the canton of Geneva. This week we are talking regarding iron. We will ask ourselves many questions, such as: Who invented iron? What was the first use? When does the Iron Age begin and end?

We will be able to see a video from the program “C’est pas sorcier” which details how the iron was worked? We will see that one can visit the iron mine of Gonzen in Sargans (SG) in Switzerland.

It gives us the opportunity to admire Warrior figure with spear and shield by an unknown artist. This object was presented during the exhibition Strike the iron. The art of African blacksmiths at the quai Branly Jacques Chirac museum. It is part of the Barbier-Mueller collection in Geneva, and was made by an unknown artist, in the 19^th century.

Iron seems to have appeared for the first time on earth around the 4^th millennium BC in the form of meteorites that have fallen from space.

The invention of iron

We do not have precise information on the use of iron among ancient peoples, but by convention, we can consider that it was around 670 BC that iron became very important and that metallurgy gradually imposed itself as the key to economic and military development.

What was the first use of iron?

Iron was first used on a large scale by the Hittites in West Asia (2000-1500 BC) and later spread to Europe, Central and South Asia, and Africa North.

According to some studies, this metal appeared for the first time in Asia Minor. The first traces of the use of iron are attributed to the Calibians, a population that lived southeast of the Black Sea. At 12^th century BC, traces of iron alloys can be found in India, Anatolia and the Caucasus and in sub-Saharan Africa from 1200 BC.

When does the Iron Age begin and when does it end?

The Metal Age is defined as the historical period during which men began to work metals to make their first tools, gradually abandoning the use of stone. It includes the Copper Age (6000-3000 BC), Bronze Age (3000-1100 BC) and Iron Age (from 1100 BC). AD).

Here is a video from the program “C’est pas sorcier” which details how iron was worked.

Gonzen iron mine in Sargans (SG)

We can visit the Gonzen iron mine in Sargans (SG) in the canton of St. Gallen. This former mine is the largest and oldest site of this ore to visit in Switzerland. The length of the galleries reaches 90 kilometers.

In the same series, “Raw materials and art”:

1. Cereals and Van Gogh
2. Coffee and culture
3. Cotton and Edgar Degas
4. Cocoa and Luis Meléndez
5. Sugar and Sartre
6. Copper and Chardin
7. Steel and Gayle Hermick
8. Corn and Jean Mortel
9. Biogas and Victor Hugo
10. Hydrogen and the aerostatic globe
11. The wind, Da Vinci and Monnet
12. The Sun and Firedrich
13. L’or et Klimt
14. Barley and antiquity
15. Le soja et Seikei Zusetsu
16. L’aluminium et Jule Verne
17. Le riz and Morimura Gitō
18. Money and the Elblag Museum
19. Tin and Jean Trek
20. Oats and Géricault
21. Milk and Vermeer
22. Water and Renoir
23. Potato and Millet
24. Lapis lazuli and the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua
25. Honey and Cosimo’s Stone
26. The Sorbet and the Ottoman Sorbet Vendor
27. Spices and the Moluccas
28. Marble and the Venus de Milo
29. The Olive Tree and the Painter of Antimenes
30. The paper and a woodblock print of the Tiangong Kaiwu
31. La laine et Jakob Jordaens
32. Vanilla and the Florentine Codex
33. Tea and its legends
34. Salt and Saline de Bex
35. The slate and the Duvivier medallion

Sources :

Invention of iron | The 50 most important dates in history | Studenti.it

Who discovered iron working? (areasosta.com)

Gonzen Iron Mine | Switzerland Tourism (myswitzerland.com)

Photo credit : Ji-She, CC BY-SA 4.0via Wikimedia Commons

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