U N I T 1 SOME HISTORY This Unit is about the origins of metalworking and its developments, gives some information about the Industrial Revolution and describes how things evolved in the second half of the 19th century. A. FIRST STEPS IN METAL WORKING 1 Read the text then label each paragraph with one of the titles below. Par. 1: a. Importance of ironworking Par. 2: b. Development of new techniques Par. 3: c. Origins of ironworking Par. 4: d. The blacksmith Par. 5: e. Ironworking vs. bronzeworking Par. 1 Fire and air, earth and water were once considered the four elemental substances of our world. Among the ancients, only the blacksmith worked all four. His forge held the fire and his bellows controlled the air for his purpose. His material, iron, the black metal, was part of the earth, and water was essential to cool his heated iron and to temper his red-hot iron. Par. 2 Before blacksmiths there were bronzesmiths who worked copper and bronze, shaping these more malleable materials with heat and hammer into tools and weapons. Iron was the key to civilisation. Once ironworking had developed, tribes armed with iron swords and spearheads conquered those armed only with bronze weapons. People with iron axes and knives built houses more quickly and lived more comfortably than those who had not yet learned to make iron and steel from the ferrous ore so abundant in most parts of the world. Par. 3 Developing techniques and experience, the early methods of smelting iron lasted well into the historical period. In time, ironmasters learned to transform useless cast iron into wrought iron by re-smelting it in a deep fire, burning out excess carbon and beating out the impurities. Nobody has yet been able to establish the exact time and place that man first learned to make and shape iron to his wishes. Historians feel that ironworking probably started some six thousand years ago in the Caucasus, from where it quickly spread eastwards and westwards, and finally replaced bronze. 12