Where's the Wootz?

[urbanspaceman]

I find this a deep and impenetrable issue which has perplexed me from the start, and continues to do so, despite reading everything I can find, and now watching all the postings on Youtube.
This question I ask here is focused and coherent:

"Was the 'Crucible Method' used to produce steel in the Middle-East; as opposed to the common and typical 'billet-welding'.
Plus, are there examples of sword blades made from such steel, and how do we tell.

Pertinently, I am not talking about blades made from Wootz produced in India and Sri Lanka then exported along the Silk Roads; I refer, specifically, to crucible steel made in the Middle East.
Perhaps someone has absorbed and assimilated all the - often contradictory - theses out there. I hope so.
It has taken me a long time to firmly grasp the production method, but the above remains elusive.
With thanks in anticipation.
ps
Hi Jim.

[Bryce]

I am not sure I fully understand what you are asking. There are plenty of wootz blades that were made in places like Iran. For example the famous "Assad Allah of Isfahan" blades. Are you asking were they made in Iran, from wootz steel that was produced in Iran or were they made in Iran from wootz steel that was produced in India?

I am not a wootz scholar, but my assumption was that the wootz steel was also produced in the middle-east, not just India.

Cheers,
Bryce

[urbanspaceman]

Pertinently, I am not talking about blades made from Wootz produced in India and Sri Lanka then exported along the Silk Roads; I refer, specifically, to crucible steel made in the Middle East.