Iron Age

This article is about the historical/archaeological period known as the Iron Age. For the mythological Iron Age, see Ages of Man.

The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Copper and Bronze Ages.<ref name=Britannica>"The Metal Ages". Encyclopædia Britannica.</ref> 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, but they now include other parts of the Old World (the indigenous cultures of the New World did not develop an iron economy prior to AD 1500).

Although meteoritic 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.<ref>Milisauskas, Sarunas, ed. (2002). European Prehistory: A Survey. Springer. ISBN 978-0306467936. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022.</ref>

In Anatolia and the Caucasus, or Southeast Europe, the Iron Age began during the late 2nd millennium BC (c. 1300 BC).<ref name="Jane C. Waldbaum 1978">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).</ref> In the Ancient Near East, this transition occurred simultaneously with the Bronze Age collapse, during the 12th century 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.

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 during the 3rd century BC. The use of 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.<ref name="Eggert 2014 51–59" /><ref name="Holl-2009" /><ref name=Eze-Uzomaka />

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 c. 550 BC is used traditionally and still usually as an end date; later dates are considered historical by virtue of 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 c. AD 800, with the beginning of the Viking Age.

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<ref>(Karl von Rotteck, Karl Theodor Welcker, Das Staats-Lexikon (1864), p. 774 Archived 23 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine</ref> 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.<ref>Oriental Institute Communications, Issues 13–19, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1922, p. 55.</ref>

Definition of "iron"

Main articles: Ferrous metallurgy § Iron smelting and the Iron Age, and Archaeometallurgical slag

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, Lower Egypt, having been shaped by careful hammering.<ref>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; Szőkefalvi-Nagy, Zoltán (2013). "5,000 years old Egyptian iron beads made from hammered meteoritic iron" (PDF). Journal of Archaeological Science. 40 (12): 4785–4792. Bibcode:2013JArSc..40.4785R. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2013.06.002.</ref><ref>Archaeomineralogy, p. 164, George Robert Rapp, Springer, 2002</ref><ref>Understanding materials science, p. 125, Rolf E. Hummel, Springer, 2004</ref>

The 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.<ref>Sharma, Priyanka (21 October 2020). "Iron Age– its Duration and Characteristics". History Flame. Retrieved 15 January 2023.</ref> 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 1,250 °C (2,280 °F) are required to smelt it, impractical to achieve with technology available commonly until the end of the second millennium BC. In contrast, the components of bronze—tin with a melting point of 231.9 °C (449.4 °F) and copper with a relatively moderate melting point of 1,085 °C (1,985 °F)—were within the capabilities of Neolithic kilns, which date back to 6000 BC and were able to produce temperatures greater than 900 °C (1,650 °F).<ref name="IIIDorn2006">James E. McClellan III; Harold Dorn (2006). Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction Archived 23 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine. JHU Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8360-6. p. 21.</ref>

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

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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".<ref>Akanuma, Hideo (2008). "The Significance of Early Bronze Age Iron Objects from Kaman-Kalehöyük, Turkey" (PDF). Anatolian Archaeological Studies. Tokyo: Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology. 17: 313–20.</ref> 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).<ref>Souckova-Siegolová, J. (2001). "Treatment and usage of iron in the Hittite empire in the 2nd millennium BC". Mediterranean Archaeology. 14: 189–93.</ref>

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".<ref name= "Tewari" /> 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.<ref name="millermintz" /><ref>Roderick J. McIntosh (1999), How Old is the Iron Age in Sub-Saharan Africa? Archived 13 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Archaeological Institute of America</ref><ref>Stanley B. Alpern (2005), Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa Archived 2 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine</ref><ref name=Eze-Uzomaka>Eze–Uzomaka, Pamela. "Iron and its influence on the prehistoric site of Lejja". Academia. University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Retrieved 12 December 2014.</ref> However, some recent studies date the inception of iron metallurgy in Africa between 3000 and 2500 BCE, with evidence existing for early iron metallurgy in parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, and Central Africa, from as early as around 2,000 BCE. The Nok culture of Nigeria may have practiced iron smelting from as early as 1000 BCE, while the nearby Djenné-Djenno culture of the Niger Valley in Mali shows evidence of iron production from c. 250 BCE. Iron technology across much of sub-Saharan Africa has an African origin dating to before 2000 BCE. These findings confirm the independent invention of iron smelting in sub-Saharan Africa.

Beginning

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 Alps.

Modern 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 Snodgrass<ref>A.M. Snodgrass (1966), "Arms and Armour of the Greeks" (Thames & Hudson, London)</ref><ref>A.M. Snodgrass (1971), "The Dark Age of Greece" (Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh).</ref> 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.<ref>Theodore Wertime & J.D. Muhly, eds. The Coming of the Age of Iron (New Haven, 1979).</ref>

In Central and Western Europe, the Iron Age lasted from c. 800 BC to c. 1 BC, beginning in pre-Roman Iron Age Northern Europe in c. 600 BC, and reaching Northern Scandinavian Europe about c. 500 BC.

The Iron Age in the Ancient Near East is considered to last from c. 1200 BC (the Bronze Age collapse) to c. 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 c. 900 BC to 100 BC during which ferrous metallurgy was present even if not dominant.

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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 (c. 1300 BC).<ref name="Jane C. Waldbaum 1978"/> 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.<ref>Iron Age Caucasia. Archived 11 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine encyclopedia.com</ref>

In Iran, the earliest actual iron artifacts were unknown until the 9th century BC.<ref>Iron Age (Iran). Archived 16 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine Iranica online.</ref> 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.<ref name="EB1910CH">Chisholm, H. (1910). Encyclopædia Britannica. New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Co.</ref>Template:Nonspecific 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.<ref name=cowen>Cowen, Richard (April 1999). "Chapter 5: The Age of Iron". Essays on Geology, History, and People. UC Davis. Archived from the original on 19 January 2018.</ref> 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.<ref name="Muhly, James D. 2003 pp. 179-180">Muhly, James D. "Metalworking/Mining in the Levant". pp. 174–83 in Near Eastern Archaeology ed. Suzanne Richard (2003), pp. 179–80.</ref> 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.<ref name="Muhly, James D. 2003 pp. 179-180"/> 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.<ref>Waldbaum, Jane C. From Bronze to Iron. Gothenburg: Paul Astöms (1978): 56–58.</ref>

Early examples and distribution of non-precious metal finds<ref>Webb, Alex. "Metalworking in Ancient Greece". Wolf tree. Archived from the original on 1 December 2007 – via Freeserve.</ref>

Date	Crete	Aegean	Greece	Cyprus	Sub-totals	Anatolia	Totals
1300–1200 BC	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
Total Bronze Age	5	2	9	0	16	33	49
Total Iron Age	51	35	163	88	328	N/A	328

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</timeline> Dates are approximate; consult particular article for details.

•    Prehistoric (or Proto-historic) Iron Age   Historic Iron Age

Egypt

Main article: Third Intermediate Period of 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.<ref name="EB1910CH" /> 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.<ref name="EB1910CH" /> 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.<ref name="cowen" /> A dagger with an iron blade found in Tutankhamun's tomb, 13th century BC, was examined recently and found to be of meteoric origin.<ref>Comelli, Daniela; d'Orazio, Massimo; Folco, Luigi; El-Halwagym, Mahmud; et al. (2016). "The meteoritic origin of Tutankhamun's iron dagger blade". Meteoritics & Planetary Science. 51 (7): 1301. Bibcode:2016M&PS...51.1301C. doi:10.1111/maps.12664. Free full text available.</ref><ref name=xxwalshx>Walsh, Declan (2 June 2016). "King Tut's Dagger Made of 'Iron From the Sky,' Researchers Say". The New York Times. NYC. Retrieved 4 June 2016. ...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"...</ref><ref name=pankobe>Panko, Ben (2 June 2016). "King Tut's dagger made from an ancient meteorite". Science. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved 5 June 2016.</ref>

Europe

Main article: Iron Age Europe

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,<ref>Riederer, Josef; Wartke, Ralf-B. "Iron". Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (eds.). Brill's New Pauly, Brill 2009</ref> 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.<ref>"History of Europe – The Iron Age". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 3 December 2018.</ref> 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.<ref>Marcos Saiz, F. Javier (2006). La Sierra de Atapuerca y el Valle del Arlanzón. Patrones de asentamiento prehistóricos. Editorial Dossoles. Burgos, Spain. ISBN 9788496606289.</ref><ref>Marcos Saiz, F. Javier (2016). La Prehistoria Reciente del entorno de la Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, España). British Archaeological Reports (Oxford, U.K.), BAR International Series 2798. ISBN 9781407315195.</ref><ref>Marcos Saiz, F.J.; Díez, J.C. (2017). "The Holocene archaeological research around Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) and its projection in a GIS geospatial database". Quaternary International. 433 (A): 45–67. Bibcode:2017QuInt.433...45M. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.002.</ref> The widespread use of the technology of iron was implemented in Europe simultaneously with Asia.<ref name="John Collis 1989">John Collis, "The European Iron Age" (1989)</ref> 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.<ref>"History of Europe – The chronology of the Metal Ages". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 3 December 2018.</ref> Material cultures of Hallstatt and La Tène consist of 4 phases (A, B, C, D).<ref>"La Tène | archaeological site, Switzerland". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 3 December 2018.</ref><ref>"Hallstatt | archaeological site, Austria". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 3 December 2018.</ref><ref>Exploring The World of "The Celts" (1st paperback ed.). Thames and Hudson. 2005. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-500-27998-4.</ref>

Culture	Phase A	Phase B	Phase C	Phase D
Hallstatt	(1200–700 BC) Flat graves	(1200–700 BC) Pottery made of polychrome	(700–600 BC) Heavy iron and bronze swords	(600–475 BC) Dagger swords, brooches, and ring ornaments, girdle mounts
La Tène	(450–390 BC) S-shaped, spiral and round designs	(390–300 BC) Iron swords, heavy knives, lanceheads	(300–100 BC) Iron chains, iron swords, belts, heavy spearheads	(100–15 BC) Iron reaping-hooks, saws, scythes and hammers

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.<ref name="EB1910CH"/> 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.<ref>Ransone, Rob (2019). Genesis Too: A Rational Story of How All Things Began and the Main Events that Have Shaped Our World. Dorrance Publishing. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-64426237-5.</ref>

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 3.8 hectares (9.4 acres), and served as a Celtiberian stronghold against Roman invasions. İt 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 pedra formosa (lit. 'handsome stone') revealed here.<ref>Francisco Sande Lemos. "Citânia de Briteiros" (PDF). Translated by Andreia Cunha Silva. Retrieved 19 February 2021.</ref><ref>"Citânia de Briteiros" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 May 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)</ref>

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.<ref name="Hall">Mark E. Hall, "Towards an absolute chronology for the Iron Age of Inner Asia," Antiquity 71.274 [1997], 863–874.</ref>

The Pazyryk culture is an Iron Age archaeological culture (c. 6th to 3rd centuries BC) identified by excavated artifacts and mummified humans found in the Siberian permafrost in the Altay Mountains.

East Asia

Further information: History of metallurgy in China § Iron

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Dates are approximate; consult particular article for details.

•    Prehistoric (or Proto-historic) Iron Age   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.<ref name="Derevianko">Derevianki, A. P. (1973). Rannyi zheleznyi vek Priamuria</ref><ref>Keightley, David N. (September 1983). The Origins of Chinese Civilization. University of California Press. p. 226. ISBN 978-0-520-04229-2.</ref> The large seal script is identified with a group of characters from a book entitled Shĭ Zhoù Piān (c. 800 BCE). 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.<ref name="Higham">Higham, Charles (1996). The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-56505-9.</ref> 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.<ref>Encyclopedia of World Art: Landscape in art to Micronesian cultures. McGraw-Hill. 1964.</ref>

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.

In Japan, iron items, such as tools, weapons, and decorative objects, are postulated to have entered Japan during the late Yayoi period (c. 300 BC – 300 AD)<ref name="keally">Keally, Charles T. (14 October 2002). "Prehistoric Archaeological Periods in Japan". Japanese Archaeology.</ref> or the succeeding Kofun period (c. 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 Kyūshū to northern Honshū. 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.

Silla chest and neck armour from the National Museum of Korea in Seoul (3rd century AD).

Iron 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.<ref name="kim">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.</ref><ref name="taylor">Taylor, Sarah. 1989. "The Introduction and Development of Iron Production in Korea". World Archaeology 20(3):422–431.</ref> 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.<ref>Yoon, Dong-suk. 1989. "Early Iron Metallurgy in Korea". Archaeological Review from Cambridge 8(1):92–99.</ref> 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.<ref name="kim" /> 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 Gaya<ref name="taylor" /><ref>Barnes, Gina L. (2001). State Formation in Korea: Historical and Archaeological Perspectives. Curzon, London.</ref> Iron ingots were an important mortuary item and indicated the wealth or prestige of the deceased during this period.<ref>Lee, Sung-joo. 1998. Silla – Gaya Sahoe-eui Giwon-gwa Seongjang [The Rise and Growth of Silla and Gaya Society]. Hakyeon Munhwasa, Seoul.</ref>

South Asia

Main article: Iron Age in India

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</timeline> Dates are approximate; consult particular article for details.

•    Prehistoric (or Proto-historic) Iron Age   Historic Iron Age

The earliest evidence of iron smelting predates the emergence of the Iron Age proper by several centuries.<ref>"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</ref> 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.<ref>"Metal Technologies of the Indus Valley Tradition in Pakistan and Western India" (PDF). Harappa. Retrieved 3 January 2019.</ref> Artefacts including small knives and blades have been discovered in the Indian state of Telangana which have been dated between 2,400 BC and 1800 BC.<ref>"Rare discovery pushes back Iron Age in India". The Times of India. 18 May 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2019.</ref><ref>Rao, Kp. "Iron Age in South India: Telangana and Andhra Pradesh". South Asian Archaeology.</ref> 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.<ref name="Tewari" /> 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.<ref>Ranjan, Amit (January 2014). "The Northern Black Painted Ware Culture of Middle Ganga Plain: Recent Perspective". Manaviki.</ref> Archaeological excavations in Hyderabad show an Iron Age burial site.<ref>K. Venkateshwarlu (10 September 2008). "Iron Age burial site discovered". The Hindu.</ref>

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.<ref name=UCP>Drakonoff, I. M. (1991). Early Antiquity. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-14465-8. p. 372</ref> 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.<ref name=UCP/> The Indian Upanishads mention metallurgy.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (1998). Upanisads. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-283576-9. p. xxix</ref> and the Indian Mauryan period saw advances in metallurgy.<ref>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</ref> 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.<ref>Juleff, G. (1996), "An ancient wind-powered iron smelting technology in Sri Lanka". Archived 21 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Nature 379 (3): 60–63.</ref>

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.<ref>Weligamage, Lahiru (2005). "The Ancient Sri Lanka". LankaLibrary Forum. Archived from the original on 10 January 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2018.</ref><ref>Deraniyagala, Siran (1992). The Prehistory of Sri Lanka; an ecological perspective (revised ed.). Colombo: Archaeological Survey Department of Sri Lanka: 709–729.</ref><ref>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 :58</ref><ref>Mogren 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.</ref> The Anuradhapura settlement is recorded to extend 10 ha (25 acres) by 800 BC and grew to 50 ha (120 acres) by 700–600 BC to become a town.<ref>F.;R. Allchin (1989). "City and State Formation in Early Historic South Asia". South Asian Studies 5:1–16: 3</ref> 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.<ref>Indrapala, K. The Evolution of an ethnic identity: The Tamils of Sri Lanka, p. 324</ref> It is also speculated that Early Iron Age sites may exist in Kandarodai, Matota, Pilapitiya and Tissamaharama.<ref>Deraniyagala, Siran (1992), The Prehistory of Sri Lanka; an ecological perspective (revised ed.), Colombo: Archaeological Survey Department of Sri Lanka: 730–732, 735</ref>

The earliest undisputed deciphered epigraphy found in the Indian subcontinent are the Edicts of Ashoka of the 3rd century BCE, 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.<ref>Dilip K. Chakrabarty (2009). India: An Archaeological History: Palaeolithic Beginnings to Early Historic Foundations. Oxford University Press India. pp. 355–356. ISBN 978-0-19-908814-0.</ref>

Southeast Asia

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</timeline> Dates are approximate; consult particular article for details.

•   Prehistoric (or Proto-historic) Iron Age   Historic Iron Age

Lingling-o earrings from Luzon, Philippines

Archaeology 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.<ref>Glover, I. C.; Bellina, B. (2011). "Ban Don Ta Phet and Khao Sam Kaeo: The Earliest Indian Contacts Re-assessed". Early Interactions between South and Southeast Asia. Vol. 2. pp. 17–45. doi:10.1355/9789814311175-005. ISBN 978-981-4345-10-1.</ref>

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.<ref name=Higham2>Higham, C. (2014). Early Mainland Southeast Asia. Bangkok: River Books. ISBN 978-616-7339-44-3</ref>

Africa

Main article: Iron metallurgy in Africa

See also: Nok culture, Urewe, and Bantu expansion

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.<ref name="Bandama">Bandama, Foreman; Babalola, Abidemi Babatunde (13 September 2023). "Science, Not Black Magic: Metal and Glass Production in Africa". African Archaeological Review. 40 (3): 531–543. doi:10.1007/s10437-023-09545-6. ISSN 0263-0338. OCLC 10004759980. S2CID 261858183.</ref> Iron metallurgical development occurred 2631–2458 BCE at Lejja, in Nigeria, 2136–1921 BCE at Obui, in Central Africa Republic, 1895–1370 BCE at Tchire Ouma 147, in Niger, and 1297–1051 BCE at Dekpassanware, in Togo.<ref name="Bandama" />

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.<ref name="millermintz" /><ref>"Iron in Africa: Revising the History". UNESCO. Archived 4 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine Aux origines de la métallurgie du fer en Afrique, Une ancienneté méconnue: Afrique de l'Ouest et Afrique centrale.</ref> 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.<ref>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.</ref>

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.<ref name="Eggert 2014 51–59" /><ref name="Holl-2009" />

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)<ref name=Eze-Uzomaka /><ref name=Holl-2009/> and to 750 BC and at the site of Opi (Holl 2009).<ref name=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.<ref name="Eggert 2014 53–54">Eggert, Manfred (2014). "Early iron in West and Central Africa". In Breunig, P. (ed.). Nok: African Sculpture in Archaeological Context. Frankfurt: Africa Magna Verlag Press. pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-393724846-2.</ref> Similarly, smelting in bloomery-type furnaces appear in the Nok culture of central Nigeria by about 550 BC and possibly a few centuries earlier.<ref>Duncan E. Miller and N. J. Van Der Merwe, "Early Metal Working in Sub Saharan Africa", Journal of African History 35 (1994) 1–36</ref><ref>Minze Stuiver and N. J. van der Merwe, "Radiocarbon Chronology of the Iron Age in Sub-Saharan Africa", Current Anthropology 1968. Tylecote 1975 (see below)</ref><ref name="Eggert 2014 51–59"/><ref name="Eggert 2014 53–54"/>

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.<ref name="millermintz" /> However, iron working may have been practiced in central Africa as early as the 3rd millennium BC.<ref>Pringle, Heather (9 January 2009). "Seeking Africa's first Iron Men". Science. 323 (5911): 200–202. doi:10.1126/science.323.5911.200. PMID 19131604. S2CID 206583802.</ref> Instances of carbon steel based on complex preheating principles were found to be in production around the 1st century CE in northwest Tanzania.<ref>Peter Schmidt, Donald H. Avery. "Complex Iron Smelting and Prehistoric Culture in Tanzania". Archived 9 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Science, 22 September 1978: Vol. 201. no. 4361, pp. 1085–89</ref>

Typical bloomery iron production operational sequence starting with acquiring raw materials through smelting and smithing

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</timeline> Dates are approximate; consult particular article for details

•    Prehistoric (or Proto-historic) Iron Age   Historic Iron Age

See also

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

Further reading

• Jan David Bakker, Stephan Maurer, Jörn-Steffen Pischke and Ferdinand Rauch. 2021. "Of Mice and Merchants: Connectedness and the Location of Economic Activity in the Iron Age". 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. Tiablonskiĭ. 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 Archived 18 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine 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