Raw chunks of iron and other artifacts recovered from an ancient shipwreck are challenging archaeologists’ understanding of trade and war in the Middle East 2,600 years ago.
The region at that time may have featured familiar levels of violence to those we know today, but the players were entirely different: declining Assyria, rising Babylonia, and the steady power of Egypt‘s ancient dynasties.
The recent discovery, detailed in a study that appeared in Heritage Science, pushes against assumptions about the conflict economy of the ancient Middle East, with major implications for where these ancient weapons of war were produced.
Conflict In the Ancient Middle East
After a century of Assyrian rule, the Egyptians and, later, the Babylonians, claimed power over late 7th- and early 6th-century BCE Israel. Researchers from the University of Haifa analyzed the iron contents of a shipwreck from the region dating from this tumultuous period, and now argue that their findings challenge previous assumptions about war, trade routes, and metal production in the ancient world.
The team worked with only scant clues that included an anchor, pieces of pottery, and chunks of iron that survived through the centuries. Fortunately, the team also recovered grape seeds from the pottery and a charred twig embedded in one of the pieces of iron, which allowed radiocarbon dating and confirmed the site’s age. This represents the most recent of three shipwrecks discovered in the Dor Lagoon area, with the other two dating to the 11th and 9th centuries BCE.
An Unexpected Ancient Middle East Discovery
Discovering the iron occurred by happenstance, when what appeared to be just another rock to cleared was much heavier than the others. Archaeologists weighed this sample, along with other iron chunks recovered from the wreckage, which were found to weigh between five and ten kilograms each.
Samples like these are known as “iron blooms,” and represent the metal in a semi-finished state. Compared to metals that came into earlier use, like gold and copper, iron has a much higher melting point. These blooms represent the earliest stage in iron processing: spongy balls of iron mixed with charcoal from the furnace in which they were heated. As a smith hammered these blooms, the non-metallic material would fall out, leaving behind the purified all-metal billet.
The researchers say that the dating of the iron blooms offers important clues as to their intended purpose. Given the ongoing regional conflict at the time, archaeologists interpret these as raw materials eagerly awaited by warriors at their intended destination. This iron could have been transformed into crucial tools of war, such as arrowheads, daggers, and swords.
Transporting Iron in the Ancient Middle East
Because of the inefficiency of allowing the bloom to cool and then reheating it to finish the processing, scholars had assumed that iron was not traded in this raw state. All prior iron bloom discoveries occurred at iron production sites. However, there is one benefit to trading this raw iron; its surface protects it from corrosion when exposed to water. This would allow it to survive sea voyages much more effectively than finished iron.
The source of the iron remains unclear, with one location on the far side of the Jordan River remaining likely, although other parts of the Mediterranean are also possibilities. In the last two decades, research into trade networks from this period has expanded, revealing more connections than previously believed.
Despite being able to roughly place the conflicts that would have occurred in the region at the time, the team was unable to determine which empire the lead originally belonged to.
“[The next step is] to try and figure out from where and to where the ship sailed, lead author Tzilla Eschel told The Debrief in an email. “This includes petrography of the basket handles found with the cargo, and osmium isotopes for the iron blooms.”
Work with the shipwrecks remains ongoing, and additional research that is currently still underway is expected to be published in the coming months, offering deeper insights into the ancient wreckage and its role in the ancient war economy.
The paper, “Earliest Iron Blooms Discovered off the Carmel Coast Revises Mediterranean Trade in Raw Metal ca. 600 BCE,” appeared in Heritage Science on March 13, 2026.
Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.