The Book of Mormon mentions iron in a mineralogical context five times:
2 Nephi 5:15 work in all mannner of iron, copper, brass, steel, gold, silver, precious ores ca. 590 BC
Jarom 1:8 exceedingly rich in gold, silver, precious things, iron, copper, brass, steel ca. 400 BC
Ether 10:23 work in all manner of ore, gold, silver, iron, brass, copper ca. 1,100 BC
Iron is implied when steel is mentioned in an extractive mineralogical context in Jaredite times:
Ether 7:9 molten out of the hill, and made swords out of steel ca. 2,000 BC
Steel is carburized or quenched and tempered iron. Iron was known anciently from meteoric sources. King Tut's famous steel dagger on display in the Cairo Museum was pounded from meteoric iron.
Meteoric iron is rare on the surface of the earth. High grade iron ores such as hematite and magnetite are much more abundant and are mined commercially today. We have known about polished Olmec hematite mirrors for decades.
This is a similar example.
Both mirrors are dated prior to 400 BC, the traditional date associated with the Olmec collapse.
This photo is in Ann Cyphers Guillén, "San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán," in Los Olmecas en Mesoamérica, edited by John E. Clark, (Mexico City: Citibank/Mexico, 1994). The ilmenite was imported from Chiapas and Oaxaca. Similar concentrations of worked ilmenite pieces were found in Plumajillo and Amatal, Chiapas.
The perforations were made with a drill, likely using fine sand as an abrasive. The San Lorenzo workshop dates from ca. 1,100 BC. Several of the San Lorenzo artifacts were analyzed by BYU geologists. The report is Steven E. Jones, Samuel T. Jones, and David E. Jones, "Archaeometry Applied to Olmec Iron-Ore Beads,"BYU Studies 37:4 (1997-98). The iron artifacts could have been used as jewelry, chain mail armor, or miniature tools (a typical bead is 3 centimeters long) if fitted with a wooden haft.
2 Nephi 5:15 work in all mannner of iron, copper, brass, steel, gold, silver, precious ores ca. 590 BC
Jarom 1:8 exceedingly rich in gold, silver, precious things, iron, copper, brass, steel ca. 400 BC
Ether 10:23 work in all manner of ore, gold, silver, iron, brass, copper ca. 1,100 BC
Iron is implied when steel is mentioned in an extractive mineralogical context in Jaredite times:
Ether 7:9 molten out of the hill, and made swords out of steel ca. 2,000 BC
Steel is carburized or quenched and tempered iron. Iron was known anciently from meteoric sources. King Tut's famous steel dagger on display in the Cairo Museum was pounded from meteoric iron.
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| Steel Dagger from King Tut's Tomb ca. 1323 BC Photo by Daniela Cornelli |
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| Olmec Polished Hematite Mirror from Guerrero Photo by Linda Schele |
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| Olmec Polished Hematite Mirror from Guerrero Photo by Linda Schele |
We also know that another form of iron ore, ilmenite (a principal modern source of titanium), was worked at industrial scale at the first Olmec capital, San Lorenzo. Ann Cyphers Guillén found 8 tons of it at a workshop in the SE sector of the San Lorenzo plateau.
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| Perforated, Polished Ilmenite Artifacts from San Lorenzo Photo by Ann Cyphers Guillén |
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| Sites with Worked Ilmenite Iron Ore |