Inside BAR

The historic period from the 13th century to the sixth century B.C. is known as the Iron Age. Before the Iron Age, iron artifacts existed, but iron was considered an exotic, semiprecious metal. Metallurgists and archaeologists have only recently begun to apply modern scientific techniques to the study of early metal artifacts. After five years of research, a team at the University of Pennsylvania has already produced intriguing results. In “How Iron Technology Changed the Ancient World—And Gave the Philistines a Military Edge,” James D. Muhly presents new interpretations of the sweeping cultural changes that characterized the Mediterranean world at the end of the Bronze Age and the early part of the Iron Age. Many of these changes are reflected in events described in the Bible and help elucidate a number of well-known Biblical passages.