Bloomery

A furnace that smelts iron ore into a porous mass of iron and slag called a bloom. The bloom is consolidated by forging rather than melted into liquid iron.

Bloom: A porous mass of iron and trapped slag produced by direct smelting in a bloomery. It is the furnace’s solid product, not a pool of molten iron.
Iron ore: Naturally occurring rock or mineral from which iron can be extracted economically. Its iron oxides are the feedstock reduced inside the furnace.
Iron Age: A period in which iron became a major material for tools and weapons in many societies. Bloomery smelting supplied much of the iron behind this broad technological transition.
Blacksmithing: The craft of shaping iron and steel by heating and hammering. Smiths forged blooms into bars and objects while expelling trapped slag.
Blast furnace: A tall furnace that produces liquid iron by smelting ore with fuel and a forced air blast. Unlike a bloomery, it melts iron into cast iron rather than yielding a solid bloom.
Direct reduction: A chemical process that removes oxygen from metal ores without first melting the metal. Carbon monoxide from charcoal reduces iron oxide while the iron remains solid.
Iron oxide: A compound of iron and oxygen, including the principal minerals used as iron ores. Smelting removes oxygen from these compounds to produce metallic iron.
Hittites: An ancient Anatolian people whose kingdom flourished during the second millennium BCE. They are often associated with early ironworking, though claims of an exclusive monopoly are disputed.
Wrought iron: A malleable iron material with very low carbon content and characteristic slag inclusions. Bloomery iron could be refined and forged into material resembling wrought iron.
Cast iron: An iron-carbon alloy with enough carbon to melt and cast readily. It is a typical blast-furnace product, whereas bloomery iron usually stays solid and low in carbon.

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