Iron Age

This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age; for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man.

In archaeology, the Iron Age is the stage in the development of any people where the use of iron implements as tools and weapons is prominent. The adoption of this new material coincided with other changes in some past societies often including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles, although this was not always the case.

The Iron Age is the last principal period in the three-age system for classifying pre-historic societies, preceded by the Bronze Age. Its date and context varies depending on the country or geographical region. Classically, the Iron Age is taken to begin with the Greek Dark Ages in the 12th century BC in Greece and the Ancient Near East, the 11th century BC in India and between the 8th (Central Europe) and 6th (Northern Europe) centuries BC in Europe. The Iron Age is usually taken to end with the onset of historical tradition during Hellenism and the Roman Empire, or the Early Middle Ages in the case of Northern Europe.

The Iron Age roughly corresponds to the stage at which iron production was the most sophisticated form of metalworking. Iron's hardness, high melting point and the abundance of iron ore sources made iron more desirable and "cheaper" than bronze and contributed greatly to its adoption as the most commonly used metal. The arrival of iron use in various areas is listed below, broadly in chronological order. Because iron working was introduced directly to the Americas and Australasia by European colonization, there was never an iron age in either location.

The Iron Age

The first signs of iron use come from Ancient Egypt and Sumer, where around 4000 BC small items, such as the tips of spears and ornaments, were being fashioned from iron recovered from meteorites (see Iron: History). By 3000 BC to 2000 BC increasing numbers of smelted iron objects (distinguishable from meteoric iron by the lack of nickel in the product) appear in Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley (Pakistan and North India). However, their use appears to be ceremonial, and iron was an expensive metal, more expensive than gold. Some sources suggest that iron was being created then as a by-product of copper refining, as sponge iron, and was not reproducible by the metallurgy of the time. The earliest systematic production and use of iron implements appears from the 14th century BC in the Hittite Empire though recent excavations in Middle Ganga Valley in India done by archaelogist Rakesh Tewari show iron-working in India since 1800 BC. By 1200 BC, iron was widely used in the Middle East but did not supplant the dominant use of bronze for some time.

The Iron Age in Asia

Indian Subcontinent

Recent excavations in Middle Ganga Valley done by archaelogist Rakesh Tewari show iron working in India since 1800 BC. Archaeological sites in India, such as Malhar, Dadupur, Raja Nala Ka Tila and Lahuradewa in the state of Uttar Pradesh show iron implements in the period between 1800 BC - 1200 BC.

The Black and Red Ware culture was another early Iron Age archaeological culture of the northern Indian Subcontinent. It is dated to roughly the 12th – 9th centuries BC, and associated with the post-Rigvedic Vedic civilization. It reached from the upper Gangetic plain in Uttar Pradesh to the eastern Vindhya range and West Bengal.

Perhaps as early as 300 BC, although certainly by 200 A.D., high quality steel was being produced in southern India by what Europeans would later call the crucible technique. In this system, high-purity wrought iron, charcoal, and glass were mixed in crucibles and heated until the iron melted and absorbed the carbon. The resulting high-carbon steel, called fūlāḏ فولاذ in Arabic and wootz by later Europeans, was exported throughout much of Asia and Europe.

Near East

The Iron Age in the Near East is believed to have begun with the discovery of iron smelting and smithing techniques in Anatolia or the Caucasus in the late 2nd millennium BC (circa 1300 BC). From here it spread rapidly throughout the Near East as iron weapons replaced bronze weapons by the early 1st millennium BC. The use of iron weapons by the Hittites is believed to have been a major factor in the rapid rise of the Hittite Empire. Because the area in which iron technology first developed was near the Aegean, where Asia meets Europe, the technology propagated equally early into both Asia and Europe, aided by Hittite expansion. The Sea Peoples and the related Philistines are often associated with the introduction of iron technology into Asia, as are the Dorians with respect to Greece. It ought also be noted that the Assyrian Empire had trade contacts with the area in which iron technology was first developed at the time that it was developing.

East Asia

Cast-iron artifacts are found in China that date as early as the Zhou dynasty of the 6th century BC. An Iron Age culture of the Tibetan Plateau has tentatively been associated with the Zhang Zhung culture described in early Tibetan writings. In 1972, near the city of Gaocheng (藁城) in Shijiazhuang (now Hebei province), an iron-bladed bronze tomahawk (铁刃青铜钺) dating back to the 14th century BC was excavated. After a scientific examination, the iron was shown to be made from aerosiderite.

In the Korean Peninsula, iron objects were introduced through trade just before the Western Han Dynasty began (c. 300 B.C.). Iron ingots became an important mortuary item in Proto-historic Korea. Iron production quickly followed in the 2nd century B.C., and iron implements came to be used by many farmers by the 1st century A.D. in Southern Korea.

The Iron Age in Africa

The earliest known production of steel occurred around 1400 BC in North Africa where steel was being produced in carbon furnaces. The Egyptian ruler Tutankhamun died in 1323 BC and was buried with an iron dagger with a golden hilt. Also an Egyptian sword bearing the name of pharaoh Merneptah and a battle axe with an iron blade and gold-decorated bronze haft were both found in the excavation of Ugarit (see Ugarit: History and Steel: History of iron and steelmaking), dating to circa 1400 BC. The Kushite city of Meroe near modern-day Khartoum was an important site of iron-smelting during the 5th and 6th centuries BC.

The Nok civilization became the first iron smelting people in West Africa before 1000 BC. Iron and copper working then continued to spread southward through the continent, reaching the Cape around 200 A.D. The widespread use of iron revolutionised the Bantu farming communities who adopted it, driving out the stone tool using hunter-gatherer societies they encountered as they expanded to farm wider areas of savannah. The technologically superior Bantu spread across southern Africa and became rich and powerful, producing iron for tools and weapons in large, industrial quantities.

The European Iron Age

Iron working was introduced to Europe around 1000 BC, probably from Asia Minor and slowly spread westwards over the succeeding 500 years. The Romans introduced writing and therefore ended the prehistoric Dutch Iron Age around 50 A.D.

Eastern Europe

The early 1st millennium BC marks the Iron Age in Eastern Europe. In the steppes north of the Black Sea and Azov Sea and the Caucasus, the Iron Age begins with the Koban and the Chernogorovka and Novocerkassk cultures from ca. 900 BC. By 800 BC, it was spreading to Hallstatt C via the alleged "Thraco-Cimmerian" migrations. From the Hallstatt culture, the Iron Age spreads west with the Celtic expansion from the 6th century BC. In Poland, the Iron Age reaches the late Lusatian culture in about the 6th century, followed in some areas by the Pomeranian culture.

The ethnic ascriptions of many Iron age cultures has been bitterly contested, as the roots of Germanii and Slavs were sought in this area.

Central Europe

In Central Europe, the Iron Age is generally divided in the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture (HaC and D, 800-450) and the late Iron Age La Tène culture (beginning in 450 BC). The Iron age ends with the Roman Conquest.

Mediterranean Europe

In Italy, the Iron Age was probably introduced by the Villanovan culture but this culture is otherwise considered a Bronze Age culture, while the following Etruscan civilization is regarded as part of Iron Age proper. The Etruscan Iron Age was then ended with the rise and conquest of the Roman Republic, which conquered the last Etruscan city of Velzna in 265 BC.

British Isles

For a fuller discussion see the British Iron Age article. In the British Isles, the Iron Age lasted from about the 5th century BC until the Roman conquest and until the 5th century A.D. in non-Romanised parts. Defensive structures dating from this time are often impressive, for example the brochs of northern Scotland and the hill forts that dotted the rest of the islands.

Northern Scandinavia and Finland

Scandinavia (including Finland) and Northern Balticum shows a small-scaled iron producing very early, but a further dating is currently impossible. The time varies from 3000 BC-1000 A.D. This knowledge is associated to the non-Germanic part of Scandinavia. Metalworking and Asbestos-Ceramic pottery are somewhat synonymous in Scandinavia due to the latter's capability to resist and preserve heat. The iron ore used is believed to have been iron sand (such as red soil), because its high phosphorus content can be identified in slag. Together with asbestos ware axes belonging to the Ananjino Culture are sometimes found. The Asbestos-Ceramic remains a mystery, because there are other adiabatic vessels with unknown usage.

Northern Germany and Southern Scandinavia

The Iron Age is divided into the Pre-Roman Iron Age and the Roman Iron Age. This is followed by the migration period. Northern Germany and Denmark was dominated by the Jastorf culture, whereas the culture of the southern half of the Scandinavia was dominated by the very similar Nordic Iron Age.

External links

A site with a focus on Iron Age Britain from resourcesforhistory.com

Periods and stages in archaeology | Iron Age | Prehistory

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