“‘It seems evident,’ notes one recent authority, ‘that by the beginning of the tenth century B.C. blacksmiths were intentionally steeling iron.’ In 1987, the Ensign reported that archaeologists had unearthed a long steel sword near Jericho dating back to the late seventh century B.C., probably to the reign of King Josiah who died shortly before Lehi began to prophesy. This sword is now on display at Jerusalem’s Israel Museum. The museum’s explanatory sign reads in part, ‘The sword is made of iron hardened into steel, attesting to substantial metallurgical know-how’” (Christofferson, “Prophet Joseph Smith”).