They used it, but they didn't dig it.
The history books. They usually skip this.
The Bronze Age.
They had iron - but it fell from the sky
They found meteorites.
This wasn't industrial metal - No it was jewelry for kings.
They called it (bia n pet), or metal from heaven, the Egyptians - It was rare and harder than the soft bronze swords they carried.
Smelt - they couldn't do that to real iron ore yet.
It was too mean - their fires were too cold.
You need 1,538°C to melt iron - their kilns couldn't touch that.
The rocks from Space - they beat them into shape instead. Tutankhamun - The boy king had a dagger made of this stuff.
It didn't rust like the cheap iron we make today.
Because of the high nickel content. So yes, they had iron - but it was worth more than gold and came from the stars, not the dirt.