Cast iron in ancient Greece: myth or fact?

Abstract

Up to now all suggestions about the production of cast iron in antiquity were dismissed in the absence of solid archaeological evidence. Analytical work carried out in a number of archaeological finds from excavations in Messemvria-Zone, an ancient town in north Greece, demonstrates that the technique was known in the area as early as the 5th century B.C. The results presented here change completely our understanding about the history of ancient technology.