Hittites live in places where there are not many copper mines but many iron mines. They used the method of smelting copper by the ancient Egyptians. When copper ore enters the furnace, some iron ore is sometimes mixed (copper and iron will form raw ore in some places). At this time, the iron in the ore will be reduced by carbon monoxide in the high temperature furnace. Sometimes, people build copper smelting furnaces in places rich in iron ore, and often use hard iron ore to build furnace walls, and the iron in these ores will also be reduced. When the furnace wall is loose, the reduced iron will fall down. Because the temperature of the smelting furnace is about 1 100℃, which is lower than the melting point of iron 1593℃, the shape of iron reduced by carbon monoxide is basically the same as that of raw iron ore, but it is called "sponge iron". Scholars who study the history of science call this kind of iron "iron made from lump iron" and "iron made from lump iron".
Hittites gradually found these dark gray blocky objects useful. After repeated heating and forging, the impurities in them are discharged (today people know that these impurities are mainly silicon dioxide and iron oxide that have not been completely reduced in the ore), and the loose iron blocks become dense and tough, which can be made into utensils, tools and weapons. People began to smelt iron ore by copper smelting, and the earliest ironmaking technology in the world was announced.
After about 1300 BC, the Hittites improved their iron smelting technology and were able to manufacture a large number of cheaper and more effective weapons. People in other places have tried cast iron molds, but cast iron is too fragile to be used as a tool or weapon. Hittite craftsmen found that if iron is heated on a carbon frame and then hammered into shape, it can be cast into particularly tough iron. The Hittite method of forging iron spread rapidly, especially after the collapse of the empire in 1200 BC, Hittite craftsmen migrated to various places, brought this technology to all parts of the world, and finally spread throughout Eurasia (sub-Saharan Africa independently developed iron smelting technology). Hittites are neither the creators of carriages nor the inventors of ironware. Both of these technologies originated in Mesopotamia, but they constantly innovated and improved the existing technologies and were quickly accepted by others.
After the invention of iron, Hittite king banned the spread of iron smelting. For a time, the output of iron was very small and the price was very expensive. Iron was only spread as a precious gift in the courts of some countries. Hittite king regards iron as a patent, which is not allowed to spread, so that iron is as expensive as gold, and its price is 60 times that of brass. Hittite's iron weapons once frightened Egypt and other countries. The Hittite's most effective weapon against the enemy is the chariot; On the battlefield, they drove armored horse-drawn chariots to the front, invincible, and made the enemy fearful. BC 1595, Hittites armed with iron weapons made an expedition to the two river basins, sacking the city of Babylon, which directly led to the demise of the kingdom of Babylon.
It was not until13rd century that the Hittite kingdom perished and the iron monopoly was broken that the Iron Age really came in human history. Today, Palestine, Syria and Greece, which are adjacent to Hittite, first learned to smelt iron, and iron was widely used in these areas in the 10 century BC. Later, iron smelting spread through Syria to the two river basins, Central Asia and North Africa, and then to Eastern Europe and Western Europe through Greece.