Abstract
This paper deals with the archaeometric examination of iron objects and metallurgical waste from the supra-regional sanctuary of Apollo in ancient Didyma, and is set out as preliminary results of the research project Síderos. This project aims to explore the iron technology in the archaic period (8th - 6th ct.
BC) in the Western Anatolian Littoral - known in historical times as Ionia - which played a vital role in sociocultural and economic connectivity between Anatolia, the Aegean, and the Greek mainland. The excavation at the "Taxiarchis-mound" near the central temple of Apollo yielded a complex debris comprising ordinary dedications and cultic utensils, and besides these a quantity of iron tools and anvils.
The latter are under-represented in archaeometric studies from the Aegean region in favour of pottery or luxury and exotic items made of bronze. The findings offered, thus, a unique opportunity not only for a micro-regional, but also macro-regional study of the iron technology.
The metallographic, SEM-EDX and micro-hardness analysis of iron anvils revealed both pure iron as well as high carbon characteristics, indicating a temperature-controlled quenching. This shows that delicate smithing operations of various metal types were realized at the area.
Furthermore, remnant metal and fossil structure observed on corroded objects of supposed locally origin (knives, tools and obeloi) points to a variety of microstructural phases, which in turn resulted from a distinctive iron-working. Findings of slags and furnace lining localised the processing site in an extensive industrial area within the temenos of the archaic sanctuary, and besides the copper-alloy and pottery production.
The major role of the supra-regional sanctuary at Didyma as one of the sociocultural foci in Ionia (Bumke 2002), which attracted highly skilled craftsmen, seems to be confirmed by the pilot archaeometric studies. However, the question of contextualising iron technology of Ionia within the Aegean remains crucial to review the existing model implying a technological diffusion into the region via Cyprus, Crete, and Athens (Snodgrass 1980) in favour of a more local development (Sanidas et al. 2016).