Page "Smelting" Paragraph 27

Most early processes in Europe and Africa involved smelting iron ore in a bloomery, where the temperature is kept low enough so that the iron does not melt.

This produces a spongy mass of iron called a bloom, which then has to be consolidated with a hammer.

The earliest evidence to date for the bloomery smelting of iron is found at Tell Hammeh, Jordan ( see also external link ), and dates to 930 BC ( C14 dating ).