Persian crucible steel production : ChaÌhak tradition
Iron and steel making are among the most important industries of mankind. Among these, crucible steel technology that revolutionised modern industry has its roots in medieval Persia and the Indian subcontinent. Crucible steel was always obscured with myths and fictions within Western society due to its exotic origin. Historical accounts testify that the workshops were not accessible to the public mostly because the main purpose of the crucible steel production were linked to the military and supply of arms and armour; this further limited our knowledge of it production methods. Modern studies on crucible steel making are limited to few archaeological sites in Central Asia, India and Sri Lanka, while several historical manuscripts relate this industry to production centres in modern day Iran. Inspired by the historical manuscriptsâ recurrent mention of a production site in Persia, the writer of this thesis first undertook a field survey and located the archaeological site of ChaÌhak in south Iran. The thesis is based on multidisciplinary approaches, combining history and archaeometry for a text aided archaeological investigation of puÌlaÌd production at SeljuÌq-period ChaÌhak. Accordingly, the historical
Alipour, R.
Persian crucible steel production : ChaÌhak tradition. Iron and steel making are among the most important industries of mankind. Among these, crucible steel technology that revolutionised modern industry has its roots in medieval Persia and the Indian subcontinent. Crucible steel was always obscured with myths and fictions within Western society due to its exotic origin. Historical accounts testify that the workshops were not accessible to the public mostly because the main purpose of the crucible steel production were linked to the military and supply of arms and armour; this further limited our knowledge of it production methods. Modern studies on crucible steel making are limited to few archaeological sites in Central Asia, India and Sri Lanka, while several historical manuscripts relate this industry to production centres in modern day Iran. Inspired by the historical manuscriptsâ recurrent mention of a production site in Persia, the writer of this thesis first undertook a field survey and located the archaeological site of ChaÌhak in south Iran. The thesis is based on multidisciplinary approaches, combining history and archaeometry for a text aided archaeological investigation of puÌlaÌd production at SeljuÌq-period ChaÌhak. Accordingly, the historical
persian crucible steel production tradition iron_steel making among_important industry mankind among crucible steel technology revolutionise modern industry root medieval persia indian subcontinent crucible steel always obscure myths fiction within western_society due exotic origin historical_account testify workshop accessible public mostly main_purpose crucible steel production link military supply arm_armour limited knowledge production method modern study crucible steel making limited archaeological_site central_asia india sri_lanka several historical manuscript relate industry production_centre modern_day iran inspired historical manuscript recurrent mention production site persia writer first undertook field_survey locate archaeological_site south iran base multidisciplinary approach combine history text aid archaeological_investigation production period accordingly historical