The history of metallurgy in Mesoamerica

[Zakuska]

Looks like an interesting book... but it isn't posted online? you have to buy it?

I know the iron age came much later than the copper/bronze age because of the melting point of iron - you have to know how to use bellows etc. etc. Some iron was used that came from meteorites - but it was rare/precious metal. There are some types of iron ore which can be refined over a campfire - like the old world find... there's stainless steel vs. cast iron - any iron they had would not be the best quality imo.

Copper is pretty easy to get, but not as strong.

Ancient egyptians used animal bladders and blow pipes as a belows as well as the traditional mouth blown blow pipes.

[changed]

Mesoamerica is the region extending from central Mexico south to the northwestern border of Costa Rica that gave rise to a group of stratified, culturally related Agrarian civilizations spanning an approximately 3,000-year period before the European discovery of the New World by Columbus . ''Mesoamerican'' is the adjective generally used to refer to that group of pre-Columbian cultures. This refers to an environmental area occupied by an assortment of ancient cultures that shared religious beliefs, art, architecture, and technology in the Americas for more than three thousand years.

Between 1800 and 300 BC, complex cultures began to form in Mesoamerica. Some matured into advanced pre-Columbian , Teotihuacan , Maya , Zapotec , Mixtec , Huaxtec , Purepecha , Toltec and Mexica (a.k.a. "Aztecs"), which flourished for nearly 4,000 years before first contact with Europeans.

These indigenous civilizations are credited with many inventions in: building pyramid-temples, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, writing, highly-accurate calendars, fine arts, intensive agriculture, engineering, an abacus calculation, a complex theology, and the wheel. Without any draft animals the wheel was used only as a toy. They used native copper and gold for metalworking.

Archaic inscriptions on rocks and rock walls all over northern Mexico (especially in the state of Nuevo Le

[Sevenbak]

Sevenbak, on 05 August 2010 - 10:21 AM, said:

It used to be, with lots of pics, artifacts, etc. The links are dead now, looks like he finally got it published.

...

Here's another site, that has similar artifacts and furnaces. This is an Archeology forum for those in that field. Pretty interesting stuff.

Possible Prehistoric Iron Smelting in Ohio

http://www.archaeologyfieldwork.com/AFW/Message/Topic/3189

I especially like the iron ornaments made from sea shell molds. It reminds me of King Noah, we know he used iron in ornamenting his palace.