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{{short description|Archaeological period}}{{About|the historical/archaeological period known as the Iron Age|the mythological Iron Age|Ages of Man||}}{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}{{Iron Age}}{{Human history and prehistory}}{{History of technology sidebar}}The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age.ENCYCLOPEDIA,www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Europe/The-Metal-Ages, The Metal Ages, Encyclopædia Britannica, It has also been considered as the final Age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progressing to protohistory (before written history). In this usage, it is preceded by the Stone Age (subdivided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic) and Bronze Age. These concepts originated for describing Iron Age Europe and the Ancient Near East. Still, they now include other parts of the Old World (the indigenous cultures of the New World did not develop an iron economy before 1500).Although meteoric iron has been used for millennia in many regions, the beginning of the Iron Age is defined locally around the world by archaeological convention when the production of smelted iron (especially steel tools and weapons) replaces their bronze equivalents in common use.BOOK, Milisauskas, Sarunas, European Prehistory: A Survey, 2002, Springer, 978-0306467936,books.google.com/books?id=roMxst3NKtwC&pg=PA335,web.archive.org/web/20221123124135/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=roMxst3NKtwC&pg=PA335, 23 November 2022, In Anatolia and the Caucasus, or Southeast Europe, the Iron Age began during the late 2nd millennium BC ({{circa}} 1300 BC).Jane C. Waldbaum, From Bronze to Iron: The Transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in the Eastern Mediterranean (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, vol. LIV, 1978). In the Ancient Near East, this transition occurred simultaneously with the Late Bronze Age collapse, during the 12th century BC (1200–1100 BC). The technology soon spread throughout the Mediterranean Basin region and to South Asia between the 12th and 11th century BC. Its further spread to Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and Central Europe was somewhat delayed, and Northern Europe was not reached until about the start of the 5th century BC (500 BC).The Iron Age in India is stated as beginning with the ironworking Painted Grey Ware culture, dating from the 15th century BC, through to the reign of Ashoka in the 3rd century BC. The term “Iron Age” in the archaeology of South, East, and Southeast Asia is more recent and less common than for Western Eurasia. Africa did not have a universal “Bronze Age”, and many areas transitioned directly from stone to iron. Some archaeologists believe that iron metallurgy was developed in sub-Saharan Africa independently from Eurasia and neighbouring parts of Northeast Africa as early as 2000 BC.The concept of the Iron Age ending with the beginning of the written historiographical record has not generalized well, as written language and steel use have developed at different times in different areas across the archaeological record. For instance, in China, written history started before iron smelting began, so the term is used infrequently for the archaeology of China. For the Ancient Near East, the establishment of the Achaemenid Empire {{Circa|550 BC}} is used traditionally and still usually as an end date; later dates are considered historical according to the record by Herodotus despite considerable written records now being known from well back into the Bronze Age. In Central and Western Europe, the Roman conquests of the 1st century BC serve as marking the end of the Iron Age. The Germanic Iron Age of Scandinavia is considered to end {{Circa|AD 800}}, with the beginning of the Viking Age.{{TOC limit|4}}

History of the concept

The three-age method of Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages was first used for the archaeology of Europe during the first half of the 19th century, and by the latter half of the 19th century, it had been extended to the archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Its name harks back to the mythological “Ages of Man” of Hesiod. As an archaeological era, it was first introduced to Scandinavia by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen during the 1830s. By the 1860s, it was embraced as a useful division of the “earliest history of mankind” in general(Karl von Rotteck, Karl Theodor Welcker, Das Staats-Lexikon (1864), p. 774 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123124135books.google.ch/books?id=kgL__ooMXj0C&pg=PA774 |date=23 November 2022}} and began to be applied in Assyriology. The development of the now-conventional periodization in the archaeology of the Ancient Near East was developed during the 1920s and 1930s.Oriental Institute Communications, Issues 13–19, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1922, p. 55.

Definition of “iron”

File:Willamette Meteorite AMNH.jpg|thumb|upright|Willamette Meteorite, the sixth largest in the world, is an iron–nickel meteorite.]]Meteoric iron, a natural iron–nickel alloy, was used by various ancient peoples thousands of years before the Iron Age. The earliest-known meteoric iron artifacts are nine small beads dated to 3200 BC, which were found in burials at Gerzeh in Lower Egypt, having been shaped by careful hammering.JOURNAL, 10.1016/j.jas.2013.06.002, 5,000 years old Egyptian iron beads made from hammered meteoritic iron, Journal of Archaeological Science, 40, 12, 4785–4792, 2013, Rehren, Thilo, Belgya, Tamás, Jambon, Albert, Káli, György, Kasztovszky, Zsolt, Kis, Zoltán, Kovács, Imre, Maróti, Boglárka, Martinón-Torres, Marcos, Miniaci, Gianluca, Pigott, Vincent C., Radivojević, Miljana, Rosta, László, Szentmiklósi, László, SzÅ‘kefalvi-Nagy, Zoltán, 2013JArSc..40.4785R,discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1430496/1/Rehren_et_al_2013_Petrie_iron_beads_JAS_40.pdf, free, Archaeomineralogy, p. 164, George Robert Rapp, Springer, 2002Understanding materials science, p. 125, Rolf E. Hummel, Springer, 2004The characteristic of an Iron Age culture is the mass production of tools and weapons made not just of found iron, but from smelted steel alloys with an added carbon content.WEB, Sharma, Priyanka, 2020-10-21, Iron Age– its Duration and Characteristics,historyflame.com/iron-age/, 2023-01-15, History Flame, en-US, Only with the capability of the production of carbon steel does ferrous metallurgy result in tools or weapons that are harder and lighter than bronze.Smelted iron appears sporadically in the archeological record from the middle Bronze Age. Whilst terrestrial iron is abundant naturally, temperatures above {{cvt|1250|°C}} are required to smelt it, impractical to achieve with the technology available commonly until the end of the second millennium BC. In contrast, the components of bronze—tin with a melting point of {{cvt|231.9|°C}} and copper with a relatively moderate melting point of {{cvt|1,085|°C}}—were within the capabilities of Neolithic kilns, which date back to 6000 BC and were able to produce temperatures greater than {{cvt|900|°C}}.James E. McClellan III; Harold Dorn (2006). Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123124139books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC |date=23 November 2022}}. JHU Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8018-8360-6}}. p. 21.In addition to specially designed furnaces, ancient iron production required the development of complex procedures for the removal of impurities, the regulation of the admixture of carbon, and the invention of hot-working to achieve a useful balance of hardness and strength in steel. The use of steel has also been regulated by the economics of the metallurgical advancements.

Chronology{| style@margin:auto;“|

ImageSize = width:800 height:100PlotArea = left:15 right:15 bottom:20 top:10AlignBars = justifyColors = Period = from:-9500 till:1750TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1000 start:-9000ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:100 start:-9500PlotData =

1. bar:  color:time

Earliest evidence

The earliest tentative evidence for iron-making is a small number of iron fragments with the appropriate amounts of carbon admixture found in the Proto-Hittite layers at Kaman-Kalehöyük in modern-day Turkey, dated to 2200–2000 BC. Akanuma (2008) concludes that “The combination of carbon dating, archaeological context, and archaeometallurgical examination indicates that it is likely that the use of ironware made of steel had already begun in the third millennium BC in Central Anatolia”.JOURNAL, Akanuma, Hideo, The Significance of Early Bronze Age Iron Objects from Kaman-Kalehöyük, Turkey, Anatolian Archaeological Studies, 17, 313–20, 2008,www.jiaa-kaman.org/pdfs/aas_17/AAS_17_Akanuma_H_pp_313_320.pdf, Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology, Tokyo, Souckova-Siegolová (2001) shows that iron implements were made in Central Anatolia in very limited quantities about 1800 BC and were in general use by elites, though not by commoners, during the New Hittite Empire (≈1400–1200 BC).JOURNAL, Souckova-Siegolová, J., Treatment and usage of iron in the Hittite empire in the 2nd millennium BC, Mediterranean Archaeology, 14, 189–93, 2001, Similarly, recent archaeological remains of iron-working in the Ganges Valley in India have been dated tentatively to 1800 BC. Tewari (2003) concludes that “knowledge of iron smelting and manufacturing of iron artifacts was well known in the Eastern Vindhyas and iron had been in use in the Central Ganga Plain, at least from the early second millennium BC”. By the Middle Bronze Age increasing numbers of smelted iron objects (distinguishable from meteoric iron by the lack of nickel in the product) appeared in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and South Asia.African sites are revealing dates as early as 2000–1200 BC.Roderick J. McIntosh (1999), How Old is the Iron Age in Sub-Saharan Africa? {{Webarchive|url=www.homestead.com/wysinger/ironage.html" title="web.archive.org/web/20071013215324www.homestead.com/wysinger/ironage.html">web.archive.org/web/20071013215324www.homestead.com/wysinger/ironage.html |date=13 October 2007}}, Archaeological Institute of AmericaStanley B. Alpern (2005), Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa {{Webarchive|url=web.archive.org/web/20200202045628/https://muse.jhu.edu/demo/history_in_africa/v032/32.1alpern.pdf |date=2 February 2020}}JOURNAL, Eze–Uzomaka, Pamela, Iron and its influence on the prehistoric site of Lejja,www.academia.edu/4103707, Academia, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 12 December 2014, However, some recent studies date the inception of iron metallurgy in Africa between 3000 and 2500 BC, with evidence existing for early iron metallurgy in parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, and Central Africa, from as early as around 2,000 BC. The Nok culture of Nigeria may have practiced iron smelting from as early as 1000 BC, while the nearby Djenné-Djenno culture of the Niger Valley in Mali shows evidence of iron production from c. 250 BC. Iron technology across much of sub-Saharan Africa has an African origin dating to before 2000 BC. These findings confirm the independent invention of iron smelting in sub-Saharan Africa. {{cn|date=April 2024}}

Beginning

File:Krieger von Hirschlanden.jpg|thumb|Copy of The Warrior of Hirschlanden (German: Krieger von Hirschlanden), a statue of a nude ithyphallic warrior made of sandstone, the oldest known Iron Age life-size anthropomorphic statue north of the AlpsAlpsModern archaeological evidence identifies the start of large-scale global iron production about 1200 BC, marking the end of the Bronze Age. The Iron Age in Europe is often considered as a part of the Bronze Age collapse in the ancient Near East.Anthony SnodgrassA.M. Snodgrass (1966), “Arms and Armour of the Greeks” (Thames & Hudson, London)A.M. Snodgrass (1971), “The Dark Age of Greece” (Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh). suggests that a shortage of tin and trade disruptions in the Mediterranean about 1300 BC forced metalworkers to seek an alternative to bronze. Many bronze implements were recycled into weapons during that time, and more widespread use of iron resulted in improved steel-making technology and lower costs. When tin became readily available again, iron was cheaper, stronger and lighter, and forged iron implements superseded cast bronze tools permanently.Theodore Wertime & J.D. Muhly, eds. The Coming of the Age of Iron (New Haven, 1979).In Central and Western Europe, the Iron Age lasted from {{Circa|800 BC}} to {{Circa|1 BC}}, beginning in pre-Roman Iron Age Northern Europe in {{Circa|600 BC}}, and reaching Northern Scandinavian Europe about {{Circa|500 BC}}.The Iron Age in the Ancient Near East is considered to last from {{Circa|1200 BC}} (the Bronze Age collapse) to {{Circa|550 BC}} (or 539 BC), roughly the beginning of historiography with Herodotus, marking the end of the proto-historical period.In China, because writing was developed first, there is no recognizable prehistoric period characterized by ironworking, and the Bronze Age China transitions almost directly into the Qin dynasty of imperial China. “Iron Age” in the context of China is used sometimes for the transitional period of {{Circa|900 BC}} to 100 BC during which ferrous metallurgy was present even if not dominant.ImageSize = width:800 height:200PlotArea = width:700 height:160 left:100 bottom:20AlignBars = justifyColors = Period = from:-1401 till:1400TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:500 start:-1200ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:100 start:-1200PlotData =

Ancient Near East

The Iron Age in the Ancient Near East is believed to have begun after the discovery of iron smelting and smithing techniques in Anatolia, the Caucasus or Southeast Europe during the late 2nd millennium BC ({{circa}} 1300 BC). The earliest bloomery smelting of iron is found at Tell Hammeh, Jordan about 930 BC (determined from 14C dating).The Early Iron Age in the Caucasus area is divided conventionally into two periods, Early Iron I, dated to about 1100 BC, and the Early Iron II phase from the tenth to ninth centuries BC. Many of the material culture traditions of the Late Bronze Age continued into the Early Iron Age. Thus, there is a sociocultural continuity during this transitional period.Iron Age Caucasia. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411083117www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/iron-age-caucasia |date=11 April 2022}} encyclopedia.comIn Iran, the earliest actual iron artifacts were unknown until the 9th century BC.Iron Age (Iran). {{Webarchive|url=web.archive.org/web/20220616081236/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/iron-age |date=16 June 2022}} Iranica online. For Iran, the best studied archaeological site during this time period is Teppe Hasanlu.

West Asia

In the Mesopotamian states of Sumer, Akkad and Assyria, the initial use of iron reaches far back, to perhaps 3000 BC.Chisholm, H. (1910). Encyclopædia Britannica. New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Co.{{nonspecific|reason=Which entry?|date=October 2023}} One of the earliest smelted iron artifacts known is a dagger with an iron blade found in a Hattic tomb in Anatolia, dating from 2500 BC.WEB, Richard, Cowen, Chapter 5: The Age of Iron,mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~GEL115/115CH5.html, Essays on Geology, History, and People, UC Davis, dead, April 1999,mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~GEL115/115CH5.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20180119085111mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~GEL115/115CH5.html,">web.archive.org/web/20180119085111mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~GEL115/115CH5.html, 19 January 2018, The widespread use of iron weapons which replaced bronze weapons rapidly disseminated throughout the Near East (North Africa, southwest Asia) by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC.The development of iron smelting was once attributed to the Hittites of Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age. As part of the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age, the Bronze Age collapse saw the slow, comparatively continuous spread of iron-working technology in the region. It was long believed that the success of the Hittite Empire during the Late Bronze Age had been based on the advantages entailed by the “monopoly” on ironworking at the time.Muhly, James D. “Metalworking/Mining in the Levant”. pp. 174–83 in Near Eastern Archaeology ed. Suzanne Richard (2003), pp. 179–80. Accordingly, the invading Sea Peoples would have been responsible for spreading the knowledge through that region. The idea of such a “Hittite monopoly” has been examined more thoroughly and no longer represents a scholarly consensus. While there are some iron objects from Bronze Age Anatolia, the number is comparable to iron objects found in Egypt and other places of the same time period; and only a small number of these objects are weapons.Waldbaum, Jane C. From Bronze to Iron. Gothenburg: Paul Astöms (1978): 56–58.{| class=“wikitable” style="float:center; margin:0 0 1em 1em; clear:right;”www.wolftree.freeserve.co.uk/Phoenician/Early_Metalworking.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20071201162453www.wolftree.freeserve.co.uk/Phoenician/Early_Metalworking.html,">web.archive.org/web/20071201162453www.wolftree.freeserve.co.uk/Phoenician/Early_Metalworking.html, 2007-12-01, {{self-published source|certain=y|reason=Freeserve is (rather was) merely an ISP, not a “work“|date=October 2023}}! style="width:130px;” | Date! style="width:60px;” | Crete! style="width:60px;” | Aegean! style="width:60px;” | Greece! style="width:60px;” | Cyprus! style="width:80px;” | Sub-totals! style="width:60px;” | Anatolia! style="width:60px;” | Totals| 1300–1200 BC|5|2|9|0

16|33	49

style="background:#FFFFDD;”

Total Bronze Age}}|5|2|9|0	16|33	49

| 1200–1100 BC|1|2|8|26

37|N/A	37

| 1100–1000 BC|13|3|31|33

80|N/A	80

| 1000–900 BC|37+|30|115|29

211|N/A	211

style="background:#FFFFDD;”

Total Iron Age{{Fix>text=Columns don’t sum precisely}}|51|35|163|88	328|N/A	328

ImageSize = width:800 height:50PlotArea = width:720 height:25 left:65 bottom:20AlignBars = justifyColors = Period = from:-1300 till:500TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:500 start:-1300ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:100 start:-1300PlotData =

Dates are approximate; consult particular article for details.

• {{color box|f2d97f}}{{color box|ffd880}} Prehistoric (or Proto-historic) Iron Age {{color box|cccccc}} Historic Iron Age

Egypt

Iron metal is singularly scarce in collections of Egyptian antiquities. Bronze remained the primary material there until the conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 671 BC. The explanation of this would seem to be that the relics are in most cases the paraphernalia of tombs, the funeral vessels and vases, and iron being considered an impure metal by the ancient Egyptians it was never used in their manufacture of these or for any religious purposes. It was attributed to Seth, the spirit of evil who according to Egyptian tradition governed the central deserts of Africa. In the Black Pyramid of Abusir, dating before 2000 BC, Gaston Maspero found some pieces of iron. In the funeral text of Pepi I, the metal is mentioned. A sword bearing the name of pharaoh Merneptah as well as a battle axe with an iron blade and gold-decorated bronze shaft were both found in the excavation of Ugarit. A dagger with an iron blade found in Tutankhamun’s tomb, 13th century BC, was examined recently and found to be of meteoric origin.JOURNAL, The meteoritic origin of Tutankhamun’s iron dagger blade, Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 51, 7, 1301, 10.1111/maps.12664, 2016, Comelli, Daniela, d’Orazio, Massimo, Folco, Luigi, El-Halwagym, Mahmud, 2016M&PS...51.1301C, etal, free, Free full text available.NEWS, Walsh, Declan, King Tut’s Dagger Made of ‘Iron From the Sky,’ Researchers Say, The New York Times, NYC, ...the blade’s composition of iron, nickel and cobalt was an approximate match for a meteorite that landed in northern Egypt. The result “strongly suggests an extraterrestrial origin“..., 2 June 2016,www.nytimes.com/2016/06/03/world/middleeast/king-tuts-dagger-made-of-iron-from-the-sky-researchers-say.html, 4 June 2016, NEWS, Panko, Ben, King Tut’s dagger made from an ancient meteorite, Science (journal), Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2 June 2016,www.science.org/content/article/king-tut-s-dagger-made-ancient-meteorite, 5 June 2016,

Europe

File: Aerial photograph of Maiden Castle, 1935.jpg|thumb|Maiden Castle, Dorset, England. More than 2,000 Iron Age hillforts are known in Britain.]]In Europe, the Iron Age is the last stage of prehistoric Europe and the first of the protohistoric periods, which initially means descriptions of a particular area by Greek and Roman writers. For much of Europe, the period came to an abrupt local end after conquest by the Romans, though ironworking remained the dominant technology until recent times. Elsewhere it may last until the early centuries AD, and either Christianization or a new conquest during the Migration Period.Iron working was introduced to Europe during the late 11th century BC,Riederer, Josef; Wartke, Ralf-B. “Iron”. Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (eds.). Brill’s New Pauly, Brill 2009 probably from the Caucasus, and slowly spread northwards and westwards over the succeeding 500 years. The Iron Age did not start when iron first appeared in Europe but it began to replace bronze in the preparation of tools and weapons.ENCYCLOPEDIA,www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Europe/The-Iron-Age, History of Europe – The Iron Age, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018-12-03, en, It did not happen at the same time throughout Europe; local cultural developments played a role in the transition to the Iron Age. For example, the Iron Age of Prehistoric Ireland begins about 500 BC (when the Greek Iron Age had already ended) and finishes about 400 AD. According to radiocarbon dating, the Iron Age began on the Iberian Peninsula in 850/800 cal. BC with the arrival of the Phoenicians, while on the Northern Iberian Plateau it will arrive a little later.BOOK, Marcos Saiz, F. Javier, La Sierra de Atapuerca y el Valle del Arlanzón. Patrones de asentamiento prehistóricos, 2006, Editorial Dossoles. Burgos, Spain, 9788496606289,dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/libro?codigo=264088, BOOK, Marcos Saiz, F. Javier, La Prehistoria Reciente del entorno de la Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, España), 2016, British Archaeological Reports (Oxford, U.K.), BAR International Series 2798, 9781407315195,dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/libro?codigo=663925, JOURNAL, Marcos Saiz, F.J., Díez, J.C., The Holocene archaeological research around Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) and its projection in a GIS geospatial database, 2017, Quaternary International, 433 (A), 45–67, 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.002, 2017QuInt.433...45M,sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1040618215009593, The widespread use of the technology of iron was implemented in Europe simultaneously with Asia.John Collis, “The European Iron Age” (1989) The prehistoric Iron Age in Central Europe is divided into two periods based on the Hallstatt culture (early Iron Age) and La Tène (late Iron Age) cultures.ENCYCLOPEDIA,www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Europe/The-chronology-of-the-Metal-Ages#ref309570, History of Europe – The chronology of the Metal Ages, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018-12-03, en, Material cultures of Hallstatt and La Tène consist of 4 phases (A, B, C, D).ENCYCLOPEDIA,www.britannica.com/place/La-Tene#ref111430, La Tène {{!, archaeological site, Switzerland|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2018-12-03|language=en}}ENCYCLOPEDIA,www.britannica.com/place/Hallstatt-archaeological-site-Austria, Hallstatt {{!, archaeological site, Austria|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2018-12-03|language=en}}BOOK, Exploring The World of “The Celts”, Thames and Hudson, 1st paperback, 2005, 978-0-500-27998-4, 21, {| class=“wikitable“!Culture!Phase A!Phase B!Phase C!Phase D!Hallstatt|1200–700 BCFlat graves|1200–700 BCPottery made of polychrome|700–600 BCHeavy iron and bronze swords|600–475 BCDagger swords, brooches, and ring ornaments, girdle mounts!La Tène|450–390 BCS-shaped, spiral and round designs|390–300 BCIron swords, heavy knives, lanceheads|300–100 BCIron chains, iron swords, belts, heavy spearheads|100–15 BCIron reaping-hooks, saws, scythes and hammers(File:Cogotas-II (dagas)-Segunda Edad del Hierro.jpg|thumb|upright|A sword of the Iron Age Cogotas II culture in Spain.)The Iron Age in Europe is characterized by an elaboration of designs of weapons, implements, and utensils. These are no longer cast but hammered into shape, and decoration is elaborate and curvilinear rather than simple rectilinear; the forms and character of the ornamentation of the northern European weapons resemble in some respects Roman arms, while in other respects they are peculiar and evidently representative of northern art.BOOK, Ransone, Rob, Genesis Too: A Rational Story of How All Things Began and the Main Events that Have Shaped Our World, 2019, Dorrance Publishing, 978-1-64426237-5, 45, Citânia de Briteiros, located in Guimarães, Portugal, is one of the examples of archaeological sites of the Iron Age. This settlement (fortified villages) covered an area of {{convert|3.8|hectare}}, and served as a Celtiberian stronghold against Roman invasions. Ä°t dates more than 2500 years back. The site was researched by Francisco Martins Sarmento starting from 1874. A number of amphoras (containers usually for wine or olive oil), coins, fragments of pottery, weapons, pieces of jewelry, as well as ruins of a bath and its ({{literal translation|lk=no|handsome stone}}) revealed here.WEB,www.wceh2014.ecum.uminho.pt/images/editortexto/Cit%C3%A2nia%20de%20Briteiros_English.pdf, Citânia de Briteiros, Francisco Sande Lemos, Andreia Cunha Silva, 2021-02-19, WEB,www.csarmento.uminho.pt/docs/nephl/citania/citania_de_briteiros.pdf, Citânia de Briteiros, Portuguese, 3 December 2018, 16 May 2018,www.csarmento.uminho.pt/docs/nephl/citania/citania_de_briteiros.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20180516161706www.csarmento.uminho.pt/docs/nephl/citania/citania_de_briteiros.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20180516161706www.csarmento.uminho.pt/docs/nephl/citania/citania_de_briteiros.pdf, dead,

Asia

Central Asia

The Iron Age in Central Asia began when iron objects appear among the Indo-European Saka in present-day Xinjiang (China) between the 10th century BC and the 7th century BC, such as those found at the cemetery site of Chawuhukou.Mark E. Hall, “Towards an absolute chronology for the Iron Age of Inner Asia,” Antiquity 71.274 [1997], 863–874.The Pazyryk culture is an Iron Age archaeological culture ({{Circa|6th}} to 3rd centuries BC) identified by excavated artifacts and mummified humans found in the Siberian permafrost in the Altay Mountains.

East Asia

{{further|History of metallurgy in China#Iron}}ImageSize = width:800 height:80PlotArea = width:720 height:55 left:65 bottom:20AlignBars = justifyColors = Period = from:-800 till:500TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:500 start:-800ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:100 start:-800PlotData =

Dates are approximate; consult particular article for details.

• {{color box|f2d97f}}{{color box|ffd880}} Prehistoric (or Proto-historic) Iron Age {{color box|cccccc}} Historic Iron Age

In China, Chinese bronze inscriptions are found around 1200 BC, preceding the development of iron metallurgy, which was known by the 9th century BC.Derevianki, A. P. (1973). Rannyi zheleznyi vek PriamuriaBOOK, David N., Keightley, The Origins of Chinese Civilization, 226, 978-0-520-04229-2, University of California Press, September 1983, The large seal script is identified with a group of characters from a book entitled Shǐ Zhòu Piān ({{circa}} 800 BC). Therefore, in China prehistory had given way to history periodized by ruling dynasties by the start of iron use, so “Iron Age” is not used typically to describe a period of Chinese history. Iron metallurgy reached the Yangtse Valley toward the end of the 6th century BC.BOOK, Higham, Charles, 1996, The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia,books.google.com/books?id=RZ-CV14nXHcC, Cambridge University Press, 978-0-521-56505-9, The few objects were found at Changsha and Nanjing. The mortuary evidence suggests that the initial use of iron in Lingnan belongs to the mid-to-late Warring States period (from about 350 BC). Important non-precious husi style metal finds include iron tools found at the tomb at Guwei-cun of the 4th century BC.Encyclopedia of World Art: Landscape in art to Micronesian cultures. McGraw-Hill. 1964.The techniques used in Lingnan are a combination of bivalve moulds of distinct southern tradition and the incorporation of piece mould technology from the Zhongyuan. The products of the combination of these two periods are bells, vessels, weapons and ornaments, and the sophisticated cast.An Iron Age culture of the Tibetan Plateau has been associated tentatively with the Zhang Zhung culture described by early Tibetan writings.{{anchor|Japan}}In Japan, iron items, such as tools, weapons, and decorative objects, are postulated to have entered Japan during the late Yayoi period ({{circa}} 300 BC – 300 AD)WEB,www.t-net.ne.jp/~keally/preh.html, Prehistoric Archaeological Periods in Japan, Charles T., Keally, Japanese Archaeology, 14 October 2002, or the succeeding Kofun period ({{circa}} 250–538 AD), most likely from the Korean Peninsula and China.Distinguishing characteristics of the Yayoi period include the appearance of new pottery styles and the start of intensive rice agriculture in paddy fields. Yayoi culture flourished in a geographic area from southern KyÅ«shÅ« to northern HonshÅ«. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes referred to collectively as the Yamato period; The word kofun is Japanese for the type of burial mounds dating from that era.{{anchor|Korea}}File:Korea-Silla-Iron.armor-01.jpg|thumb|Silla chest and neck armour from the National Museum of Korea in SeoulSeoulIron objects were introduced to the Korean peninsula through trade with chiefdoms and state-level societies in the Yellow Sea area during the 4th century BC, just at the end of the Warring States Period but prior to the beginning of the Western Han dynasty.Kim, Do-heon. 2002. “Samhan Sigi Jujocheolbu-eui Yutong Yangsang-e Daehan Geomto” [A Study of the Distribution Patterns of Cast Iron Axes in the Samhan Period]. Yongnam Kogohak [Yongnam Archaeological Review] 31:1–29.Taylor, Sarah. 1989. “The Introduction and Development of Iron Production in Korea”. World Archaeology 20(3):422–431. Yoon proposes that iron was first introduced to chiefdoms located along North Korean river valleys that flow into the Yellow Sea such as the Cheongcheon and Taedong Rivers.Yoon, Dong-suk. 1989. “Early Iron Metallurgy in Korea”. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 8(1):92–99. Iron production quickly followed during the 2nd century BC, and iron implements came to be used by farmers by the 1st century in southern Korea. The earliest known cast-iron axes in southern Korea are found in the Geum River basin. The time that iron production begins is the same time that complex chiefdoms of Proto-historic Korea emerged. The complex chiefdoms were the precursors of early states such as Silla, Baekje, Goguryeo, and GayaBarnes, Gina L. (2001). State Formation in Korea: Historical and Archaeological Perspectives. Curzon, London. Iron ingots were an important mortuary item and indicated the wealth or prestige of the deceased during this period.Lee, Sung-joo. 1998. Silla â€“ Gaya Sahoe-eui Giwon-gwa Seongjang [The Rise and Growth of Silla and Gaya Society]. Hakyeon Munhwasa, Seoul.

South Asia

ImageSize = width:900 height:125PlotArea = width:800 height:80 left:65 bottom:20AlignBars = justifyColors = Period = from:-1800 till:-200TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:500 start:-1800ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:100 start:-1800PlotData =

Dates are approximate; consult particular article for details.

• {{color box|f2d97f}}{{color box|ffd880}} Prehistoric (or Proto-historic) Iron Age {{color box|cccccc}} Historic Iron Age

The earliest evidence of iron smelting predates the emergence of the Iron Age proper by several centuries.“the date of the beginning of iron smelting in India may well be placed as early as the sixteenth century BC ... by about the early decade of thirteenth century BCE iron smelting was definitely known in India on a bigger scale”. Rakesh Tewari (2003), “The origins of Iron-working in India: New evidence from the Central Ganga Plain and the Eastern Vindhyas”, Archaeology Online Iron was being used in Mundigak to manufacture some items in the 3rd millennium BC such as a small copper/bronze bell with an iron clapper, a copper/bronze rod with two iron decorative buttons, and a copper/bronze mirror handle with a decorative iron button.WEB,www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/Kenoyer1999_Metal%20Technologies%20of%20the%20Indus%20Valley%20Tradition.pdf, Metal Technologies of the Indus Valley Tradition in Pakistan and Western India, Harappa, 2019-01-03, Artefacts including small knives and blades have been discovered in the Indian state of Telangana which have been dated between 2400 BC and 1800 BC.NEWS,timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Rare-discovery-pushes-back-Iron-Age-in-India/articleshow/47322021.cms, Rare discovery pushes back Iron Age in India, The Times of India, 18 May 2015, 2019-01-03, JOURNAL, Rao, Kp, Iron Age in South India: Telangana and Andhra Pradesh,www.academia.edu/37685699, South Asian Archaeology, The history of metallurgy in the Indian subcontinent began prior to the 3rd millennium BC. Archaeological sites in India, such as Malhar, Dadupur, Raja Nala Ka Tila, Lahuradewa, Kosambi and Jhusi, Allahabad in present-day Uttar Pradesh show iron implements in the period 1800–1200 BC. As the evidence from the sites Raja Nala ka tila, Malhar suggest the use of Iron in c. 1800/1700 BC. The extensive use of iron smelting is from Malhar and its surrounding area. This site is assumed as the center for smelted bloomer iron to this area due to its location in the Karamnasa River and Ganga River. This site shows agricultural technology as iron implements sickles, nails, clamps, spearheads, etc., by at least c. 1500 BC.JOURNAL, Ranjan, Amit, The Northern Black Painted Ware Culture of Middle Ganga Plain: Recent Perspective,www.academia.edu/37049072, Manaviki, January 2014, Archaeological excavations in Hyderabad show an Iron Age burial site.NEWS,www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/iron-age-burial-site-discovered/article1335326.ece, The Hindu, Iron Age burial site discovered, 2008-09-10, K. Venkateshwarlu, The beginning of the 1st millennium BC saw extensive developments in iron metallurgy in India. Technological advancement and mastery of iron metallurgy were achieved during this period of peaceful settlements. One ironworking centre in East India has been dated to the first millennium BC.Drakonoff, I. M. (1991). Early Antiquity. University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|0-226-14465-8}}. p. 372 In Southern India (present-day Mysore) iron appeared as early as 12th to 11th centuries BC; these developments were too early for any significant close contact with the northwest of the country. The Indian Upanishads mention metallurgy.Patrick Olivelle (1998). Upanisads. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-283576-9}}. p. xxix and the Indian Mauryan period saw advances in metallurgy.J. F. Richards, Gordon Johnson, Christopher Alan Bayly (2005). The New Cambridge History of India. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-36424-8}}. p. 64 As early as 300 BC, certainly by 200 AD, high-quality steel was produced in southern India, by what would later be called the crucible technique. In this system, high-purity wrought iron, charcoal, and glass were mixed in a crucible and heated until the iron melted and absorbed the carbon.Juleff, G. (1996), “An ancient wind-powered iron smelting technology in Sri Lanka”. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921001612www.nature.com/nature/journal/v379/n6560/abs/379060a0.html;jsessionid=C12F168C7DE98DE4F8C7337D1C20E6F4 |date=21 September 2011}}. Nature 379 (3): 60–63.The protohistoric Early Iron Age in Sri Lanka lasted from 1000 BC to 600 BC. Radiocarbon evidence has been collected from Anuradhapura and Aligala shelter in Sigiriya.WEB, Lahiru, Weligamage, 2005,www.lankalibrary.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1002, The Ancient Sri Lanka, LankaLibrary Forum, 10 October 2018, 10 January 2020,www.lankalibrary.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1002," title="web.archive.org/web/20200110221944www.lankalibrary.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1002,">web.archive.org/web/20200110221944www.lankalibrary.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1002, dead, Deraniyagala, Siran (1992). The Prehistory of Sri Lanka; an ecological perspective (revised ed.). Colombo: Archaeological Survey Department of Sri Lanka: 709–729.Karunaratne and Adikari (1994), “Excavations at Aligala prehistoric site”. In: Bandaranayake and Mogren (1994). Further studies in the settlement archaeology of the Sigiriya-Dambulla region. Sri Lanka, University of Kelaniya: Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology :58Mogren 1994. “Objectives, methods, constraints, and perspectives”. In: Bandaranayake and Mogren (1994). Further studies in the settlement archaeology of the Sigiriya-Dambulla region. Sri Lanka, University of Kelaniya: Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology: 39. The Anuradhapura settlement is recorded to extend {{cvt|10|ha}} by 800 BC and grew to {{cvt|50|ha}} by 700–600 BC to become a town.F.;R. Allchin (1989). “City and State Formation in Early Historic South Asia”. South Asian Studies 5:1–16: 3 The skeletal remains of an Early Iron Age chief were excavated in Anaikoddai, Jaffna. The name “Ko Veta” is engraved in Brahmi script on a seal buried with the skeleton and is assigned by the excavators to the 3rd century BC. Ko, meaning “King” in Tamil, is comparable to such names as Ko Atan and Ko Putivira occurring in contemporary Brahmi inscriptions in south India.Indrapala, K. The Evolution of an ethnic identity: The Tamils of Sri Lanka, p. 324 It is also speculated that Early Iron Age sites may exist in Kandarodai, Matota, Pilapitiya and Tissamaharama.Deraniyagala, Siran (1992), The Prehistory of Sri Lanka; an ecological perspective (revised ed.), Colombo: Archaeological Survey Department of Sri Lanka: 730–732, 735The earliest undisputed deciphered epigraphy found in the Indian subcontinent are the Edicts of Ashoka of the 3rd century BC, in the Brahmi script. Several inscriptions were thought to be pre-Ashokan by earlier scholars; these include the Piprahwa relic casket inscription, the Badli pillar inscription, the Bhattiprolu relic casket inscription, the Sohgaura copper plate inscription, the Mahasthangarh Brahmi inscription, the Eran coin legend, the Taxila coin legends, and the inscription on the silver coins of Sophytes. However, more recent scholars have dated them to later periods.BOOK, Dilip K. Chakrabarty, India: An Archaeological History: Palaeolithic Beginnings to Early Historic Foundations,books.google.com/books?id=wPQtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT356, 2009, Oxford University Press India, 978-0-19-908814-0, 355–356,

Southeast Asia

ImageSize = width:800 height:80PlotArea = width:720 height:55 left:65 bottom:20AlignBars = justifyColors = Period = from:-800 till:500TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:500 start:-800ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:100 start:-800PlotData =





Dates are approximate; consult particular article for details.

• {{color box|ffd880}} Prehistoric (or Proto-historic) Iron Age {{color box|cccccc}} Historic Iron Age

File:Lingling-o.JPG|thumb|upright=0.9|right|Lingling-o earrings from Luzon, PhilippinesPhilippinesArchaeology in Thailand at sites Ban Don Ta Phet and Khao Sam Kaeo yielding metallic, stone, and glass artifacts stylistically associated with the Indian subcontinent suggest Indianization of Southeast Asia beginning in the 4th to 2nd centuries BC during the late Iron Age.BOOK, Glover, I. C., Bellina, B., 2, 17, 17–45,books.google.com/books?id=ni9AlOLTFZYC&pg=PA19, 978-981-4345-10-1, 2011, 10.1355/9789814311175-005, Ban Don Ta Phet and Khao Sam Kaeo: The Earliest Indian Contacts Re-assessed, Early Interactions between South and Southeast Asia, In Philippines and Vietnam, the Sa Huynh culture showed evidence of an extensive trade network. Sa Huynh beads were made from glass, carnelian, agate, olivine, zircon, gold and garnet; most of these materials were not local to the region and were most likely imported. Han-dynasty-style bronze mirrors were also found in Sa Huynh sites. Conversely, Sa Huynh produced ear ornaments have been found in archaeological sites in Central Thailand, as well as the Orchid Island.Higham, C. (2014). Early Mainland Southeast Asia. Bangkok: River Books. {{ISBN|978-616-7339-44-3}}{{rp|211–217}}

Africa

{{See also|Nok culture|Urewe|Bantu expansion}}(File:African bloomery furnace types.png|thumb|Examples of African bloomery furnace types)Early evidence for iron technology in Sub-Saharan Africa can be found at sites such as KM2 and KM3 in northwest Tanzania and parts of Nigeria and the Central African Republic. Nubia was one of the relatively few places in Africa to have a sustained Bronze Age along with Egypt and much of the rest of North Africa.Archaeometallurgical scientific knowledge and technological development originated in numerous centers of Africa; the centers of origin were located in West Africa, Central Africa, and East Africa; consequently, as these origin centers are located within inner Africa, these archaeometallurgical developments are thus native African technologies.JOURNAL, Bandama, Foreman, Babalola, Abidemi Babatunde, Science, Not Black Magic: Metal and Glass Production in Africa, African Archaeological Review, 13 September 2023, 40, 3, 531–543, 10.1007/s10437-023-09545-6, 0263-0338, 10004759980, 261858183, free, Iron metallurgical development occurred 2631–2458 BC at Lejja, in Nigeria, 2136–1921 BC at Obui, in Central Africa Republic, 1895–1370 BC at Tchire Ouma 147, in Niger, and 1297–1051 BC at Dekpassanware, in Togo.Very early copper and bronze working sites in Niger may date to as early as 1500 BC. There is also evidence of iron metallurgy in Termit, Niger from around this period.“Iron in Africa: Revising the History”. UNESCO. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704083407portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID%3D3432%26URL_DO%3DDO_PRINTPAGE%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html |date=4 July 2017}} Aux origines de la métallurgie du fer en Afrique, Une ancienneté méconnue: Afrique de l’Ouest et Afrique centrale. Nubia was a major manufacturer and exporter of iron after the expulsion of the Nubian dynasty from Egypt by the Assyrians in the 7th century BC.Collins, Rober O. and Burns, James M. The History of Sub-Saharan Africa. New York: Cambridge University Press, p. 37. {{ISBN|978-0-521-68708-9}}.Though there is some uncertainty, some archaeologists believe that iron metallurgy was developed independently in sub-Saharan West Africa, separately from Eurasia and neighboring parts of North and Northeast Africa.Archaeological sites containing iron smelting furnaces and slag have also been excavated at sites in the Nsukka region of southeast Nigeria in what is now Igboland: dating to 2000 BC at the site of Lejja (Eze-Uzomaka 2009) and to 750 BC and at the site of Opi (Holl 2009). The site of Gbabiri (in the Central African Republic) has yielded evidence of iron metallurgy, from a reduction furnace and blacksmith workshop; with earliest dates of 896–773 BC and 907–796 BC, respectively.BOOK, Nok: African Sculpture in Archaeological Context, Eggert, Manfred, Africa Magna Verlag Press, 2014, 978-393724846-2, Breunig, P., Frankfurt, 53–54, Early iron in West and Central Africa,books.google.com/books?id=BBn1BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA38, Similarly, smelting in bloomery-type furnaces appear in the Nok culture of central Nigeria by about 550 BC and possibly a few centuries earlier.Duncan E. Miller and N. J. Van Der Merwe, “Early Metal Working in Sub Saharan Africa”, Journal of African History 35 (1994) 1–36Minze Stuiver and N. J. van der Merwe, “Radiocarbon Chronology of the Iron Age in Sub-Saharan Africa”, Current Anthropology 1968. Tylecote 1975 (see below)Iron and copper working in Sub-Saharan Africa spread south and east from Central Africa in conjunction with the Bantu expansion, from the Cameroon region to the African Great Lakes in the 3rd century BC, reaching the Cape around 400 AD.However, iron working may have been practiced in central Africa as early as the 3rd millennium BC.JOURNAL, Heather, Pringle, Seeking Africa’s first Iron Men, Science, 323, 200–202, 9 January 2009, 5911, 10.1126/science.323.5911.200, 19131604, 206583802, Instances of carbon steel based on complex preheating principles were found to be in production around the 1st century CE in northwest Tanzania.Peter Schmidt, Donald H. Avery. “Complex Iron Smelting and Prehistoric Culture in Tanzania”. {{Webarchive |url=www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/201/4361/1085" title="web.archive.org/web/20100409173608www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/201/4361/1085">web.archive.org/web/20100409173608www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/201/4361/1085 |date=9 April 2010}}, Science, 22 September 1978: Vol. 201. no. 4361, pp. 1085–89(File:Typical bloomery iron production operational sequence.webp|thumb|Typical bloomery iron production operational sequence starting with acquiring raw materials through smelting and smithing)ImageSize = width:800 height:65PlotArea = width:720 height:40 left:65 bottom:20AlignBars = justifyColors = Period = from:-2700 till:500TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:500 start:-2700ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:100 start:-2700PlotData =

Dates are approximate; consult particular article for details

• {{color box|f2d97f}}{{color box|ffd880}} Prehistoric (or Proto-historic) Iron Age {{color box|cccccc}} Historic Iron Age

See also

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Blast furnace
• Fogou
• Jublains archeological site, example in northwest France
• List of Iron Age states
• List of archaeological periods
• List of archaeological sites by country
• Metallurgy in pre-Columbian America
• Roman metallurgy

{{div col end}}

References

Further reading

{{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Iron Age |viaf= |lcheading= |wikititle=}}

• Jan David Bakker, Stephan Maurer, Jörn-Steffen Pischke and Ferdinand Rauch. 2021. “”. Review of Economics and Statistics 103 (4): 652–665.
• Chang, Claudia. Rethinking Prehistoric Central Asia: Shepherds, Farmers, and Nomads. New York: Routledge, 2018.
• Collis, John. The European Iron Age. London: B.T. Batsford, 1984.
• Cunliffe, Barry W. Iron Age Britain. Rev. ed. London: Batsford, 2004.
• Davis-Kimball, Jeannine, V. A Bashilov, and L. TiablonskiÄ­. Nomads of the Eurasian Steppes in the Early Iron Age. Berkeley, CA: Zinat Press, 1995.
• Finkelstein, Israel, and Eli Piasetzky. “The Iron Age Chronology Debate: Is the Gap Narrowing?” Near Eastern Archaeology 74.1 (2011): 50–55.
• Jacobson, Esther. Burial Ritual, Gender, and Status in South Siberia in the Late Bronze–Early Iron Age. Bloomington: Indiana University, Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, 1987.
• Mazar, Amihai. “Iron Age Chronology: A Reply to I. Finkelstein”. Levant 29 (1997): 157–167.
• Mazar, Amihai. “The Iron Age Chronology Debate: Is the Gap Narrowing? Another Viewpoint”. Near Eastern Archaeology 74.2 (2011): 105–110.
• Medvedskaia, I. N. Iran: Iron Age I. Oxford: B.A.R., 1982.
• Shinnie, P. L. The African Iron Age. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971.
• Tripathi, Vibha. The Age of Iron in South Asia: Legacy and Tradition. New Delhi: Aryan Books International, 2001.
• Waldbaum, Jane C. From Bronze to Iron: The Transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in the Eastern Mediterranean. Göteborg: P. Aström, 1978.

External links

General

• A site with a focus on Iron Age Britain {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070218105026resourcesforhistory.com/ |date=18 February 2007}} from resourcesforhistory.com
• Human Timeline (Interactive)—Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History (August 2016).

Publications

• Andre Gunder Frank and William R. Thompson, Early “Iron Age economic expansion and contraction revisited”. American Institute of Archaeology, San Francisco, January 2004.

News

• “Mass burial suggests massacre at Iron Age hill fort”. Archaeologists have found evidence of a massacre linked to Iron Age warfare at a hill fort in Derbyshire. BBC. 17 April 2011

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