(Anglo-Saxon, iron; L. ferrum) Iron was used prehistorically:

• Genesis mentions that Tubal-Cain, seven generations from Adam, was "an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron."
• A remarkable iron pillar, dating to about A.D. 400, remains standing today in Delhi, India. This solid shaft of wrought iron is about 7 1/4 m high by 40 cm in diameter. Corrosion to the pillar has been minimal although it has been exposed to the weather since its erection.

Iron is a relatively abundant element in the universe. It is found in the sun and manytypes of stars in considerable quantity. Its nuclei are very stable. Iron is a principalcomponent of a meteorite class known as siderites and is a minor constituent of theother two meteorite classes. The core of the earth -- 2150 miles in radius -- is thoughtto be largely composed of iron with about 10 percent occluded hydrogen. The metal is thefourth most abundant element, by weight that makes up the crust of the earth.

The most common ore is hematite, which is frequently seen as black sands along beachesand banks of streams.