The Hittite Empire, in central Anatolia, develops around 1700 BC (with a disputed dating range between c. 1800 and 1500 BC depending on the source) a smelting process capable of producing iron tools, weapons, and ornamental objects, progressively replacing bronze as the dominant metal. Iron requires melting temperatures far higher than copper or tin (1538°C versus 1085°C and 232°C respectively), which required developing considerably more advanced furnace and thermal-control techniques. Although the exclusive attribution to the Hittites as "inventors" of iron has been questioned by archaeological finds of iron fragments in proto-Hittite levels at Kaman-Kalehöyük and at earlier Mesopotamian sites (Chagar Bazar, Tell Asmar), the Hittite Empire is the first documented political entity to produce and use iron systematically and at a scale that would have lasting military and economic consequences, marking the beginning of the Iron Age in the Near East.