Genesis says Tubal-Cain forged tools of bronze and iron before the Flood (Genesis 4:22). But if you use the standard young earth timeline, the Flood happens around 2348 BCE, based on the genealogies in Genesis 5 and Noah being 600 years old during the Flood (Genesis 7:6). That means Tubal-Cain’s ironworking must happen before 2348 BCE. There’s just one problem. According to archaeometallurgy research, extractive iron metallurgy appears only on a limited scale in the early 2nd millennium BCE and

Metallography Part II - Microscopic Techniques