Guide: Extended Cultures' Economic Tour

**Anthropoid** · May 28, 2017, 05:47 PM

Ah, thanks a lot for this. My first playthrough was rather "tight" as I didn't play to the mods economic dynamics, but now I will.

Also appreciate the document as a quick primer on the Eurasian trade dynamics of the age.

ADDIT: bit of a side question on tin . . . I was told by an Med archaeologist colleague that the actual reasons for the "Iron Age" were not really what was widely believe, i.e., that iron was "better" as a material or that the craft of forging it was only "discovered" that late. Rather it seems to have something to do with the scarcity of tin (needed in bronze manufacturing?) and the toxic fumes produced by iron smelting? My memory is a bit garbled but I want to say that: the materials for iron were abundant but the process to make it was unhealthy, and the material was not much better than bronze. Bronze (or copper alloys more broadly) required materials which were more scarce, but was a good material and the forging technique(s) were not so unhealthy?

I dunno, this guy was a largely unpublished Ph.D. who never got tenure, so maybe his opinions were bogus? Anyone know?

**Suppanut** · May 29, 2017, 11:44 PM

Iron is harder to control quality of works and poor ironwork are not better than good bronze. Process of ironworking also more complicate due to in western world could not yet create heat that level for melting iron as they working with copper and tin. Iron tools likely to have already exist since late bronze age but due to quality problem, they are not that popular when bronze still effortable.

I think you confuse ironworking process with alternative bronzeworking without tin. Biggest hazard of ironworking is carbonmonoxide which could make blacksmith die when without good ventilation. While alternative to tin in bronze is asenic which is much more toxic to work than iron. That is why when they could not find tin, state economy of large scale bronze working collapse and replacing by ironworking which could be done in smaller scale and demand would lead blacksmithing to develop rapidly.

**Gilad** · June 03, 2018, 09:52 PM

Any chance you'd be willing to make a copy of this(or an updated version if applicable) available on Google Docs? Would make it have more accessibility. Granted, a bit of a selfish request since I no longer have microsoft word/excel/etc.. on my home PC >>