Whoa! Who has a lot more riding people? So the Praxians + Pentans are more than the Tatars, Bulgars, Mongols, Huns, etc, etc, etc? (Depending on how broadly you care ot cast the RW net...) - a dubious assertion.
>
> As I recently was told by a smith working with
> experimental archaeologists, [snip] ... And then the
iron is likely to be of a quality
> little better than bad bronze.
>
I again am more than a little dubious. This seems to be a
Eurocentric assumption. The dominance of the Assyrian war
machine was based significantly on the major advantage of
its iron vs. its neighbors' bronze. To say that the
quality of the iron ore produced was even COMPARABLE to
bronze is stretching it. Yes, bronze is easier to handle,
but the significant characteristics of iron improved by
even the marginal addition of carbon (almost inevitable in
primitive smelting) and the high effectiveness of tempering
on even poor steel (vs bronze, on which tempering's effects
are much less) makes iron and its products an order of
magnitude better in all respects. And I don't mean just
weapons in this discussion - weapons are just the most
obvious. But wheel hubs, axles, woodworking tools, etc
etc. The whole society becomes more productive.
Now, how do I wander back on-topic?
Powered by hypermail