This 'funny-looking rock' holds 3,000 years of Iron Age secrets

Science Archaeology This'funny-looking rock' holds 3,000 years of Iron Age secrets Experimenting with copper may have led to our eventual breakthroughs with making iron. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Around 1200 BCE, mankind began its shift away from bronze when a new metal showed its . Iron would eventually become king, but the metal's road to dominance is a bit muddled. Now, a new analysis of a 3,000-year-old smelting workshop in the Eastern European country of Georgia indicates that it was actually copper smelters experimenting with iron-rich rocks that may have sparked iron's rise.