Technology to some extent is a matter of taste and skill - some people like differential tempering, some mechanical damascus and some like wootz. It is hard to say for certain which one was better even in XVIIth century because skill is more of a determining factor than technology. Concerning trade routes - they were never stable. The profit for a typical caravan was very significant, but highly risky - virtually anyone could simply attack it for the cargo. At the same time even if people relied to some extent on some source of iron, different people had different preferencies concerning how they are going to make _their_ steel - how much camel's urine and how much blood of a sacrificial lamb they would use in their recipe (seriously). In short - same region, Caucasus, same village - Amazga, same timeframe will have everything - wootz, mechanical damascus, differential tempering, fully tempered steel etc. etc. The sources for ore would be everything from old weapons, western supplies, captured russian guns, India etc.
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