Iron Age

Iron Age
↑ Bronze Age
Bronze Age collapse Ancient Near East (1300–600 BCE) Aegean, Anatolia, Assyria, Caucasus, Cyprus, Egypt, Levant, Persia India (1200–200 BCE) Painted Grey Ware Northern Black Polished Ware Mauryan period Anuradhapura Kingdom Europe (1200 BCE–400 CE) Aegean Caucasus Novocherkassk Hallstatt C La Tène C Villanovan C British Iron Age Greece, Rome, Celts Scandinavia China (600–200 BCE) Warring States Period Japan (300 BCE – 500 CE) Yayoi period Korea (400–60 BCE) Nigeria (400 BCE–200 CE)
Axial Age Classical antiquity Zhou Dynasty Vedic period alphabetic writing, metallurgy
↓Historiography Greek, Roman, Chinese, Islamic

In archaeology, the Iron Age is the historical period in any area during which cutting tools and weapons were mainly made of iron or steel. The adoption of this material coincided with other changes in society, including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles.

The Iron Age is the last principal period in the three-age system for classifying ancient societies, preceded by the Bronze Age and the Stone Age. Its dates and context vary depending on the geographical region. The Iron Age in each area ends with the beginning of the historical period, i.e. the local production of ample written sources. Thus, for instance, the British Iron Age ends with the Roman Conquest.

Contents 1 Chronology 2 Iron use before the Iron Age 3 Transition from the Bronze Age 3.1 Metallurgy 3.2 Social organization 4 Ancient Near East 4.1 Transition 4.2 Assyria 4.3 Levant 4.4 Anatolia 4.5 Aegean 4.6 Egypt 5 South Asia 5.1 Indian Subcontinent 5.2 Sri Lanka 6 Europe 6.1 Eastern Europe 6.2 Central Europe 6.3 Italy 6.4 British Isles 6.5 Northern Europe 7 Inner Asia 8 East Asia 8.1 China 8.2 Korea 8.3 Japan 9 Sub-Saharan Africa 10 See also 11 References 12 External links

Chronology

Classically, the Iron Age is taken to begin in the 12th century BC Bronze Age collapse in the ancient Near East, ancient India (with the post-Rigvedic Vedic civilization), ancient Iran, and ancient Greece (with the Greek Dark Ages).

Iron use, in smelting and forging for tools, also appears in West Africa by 1200 BC.^[1][2][3]

In other regions of Europe, the Iron Age began in the 8th century BC in Central Europe and the 6th century BC in Northern Europe.

The Near Eastern Iron Age is divided into two subsections, Iron I and Iron II. Iron I (1200–1000 BC) illustrates both continuity and discontinuity with the previous Late Bronze Age. There is no definitive cultural break between the thirteenth and twelfth century throughout the entire region, although certain new features in the hill country, Transjordan and coastal region may suggest the appearance of the Aramaean and Sea People groups. There is evidence, however, that shows strong continuity with Bronze Age culture, although as one moves later into Iron I the culture begins to diverge more significantly from that of the late second millennium.

The Iron Age is usually said to end in the Mediterranean with the onset of historical tradition during Hellenism and the Roman Empire, in India with the onset of Buddhism and Jainism, in China with the onset of Confucianism, and in Northern Europe with the early Middle Ages.

Iron use before the Iron Age

Meteoric iron, or iron-nickel alloy, was used by various ancient peoples thousands of years before the Iron Age. This iron, being in its native metallic state, required no smelting of ores.^[4][5] By the Middle Bronze Age, increasing numbers of smelted iron objects (distinguishable from meteoric iron by the lack of nickel in the product) appeared throughout Anatolia, Mesopotamia, the Indian subcontinent, the Levant, the Mediterranean, and Egypt. The earliest systematic production and use of iron implements originates in Anatolia, beginning around 2000 BC.^[6] Recent archaeological research at Ganges Valley, India showed early iron working by 1800 BC.^[7]

Transition from the Bronze Age

Metallurgy

Bronze was previously used to make tools because its melting point is lower than that of iron. The Iron Age began with the development of higher temperature smelting techniques. During the Iron Age, the best tools and weapons were made from steel, an alloy consisting of iron with a carbon content between 0.02% and 1.7% by weight. Steel weapons and tools were nearly the same weight as those of bronze, but stronger. However, steel was difficult to produce with the methods available. Therefore, many Iron Age tools were fashioned of wrought iron.^[8] Wrought iron is weaker than bronze, but because it was less expensive, people used it anyway. Iron is by itself an adequately strong metal without additional alloys (although it could be further strengthened by case-hardening or forge welding small amounts of steel to areas subject to wear such as edges). Bronze, on the other hand, requires copper and tin, which are less common than iron.

Around 1800 BC, for reasons yet unknown to archaeologists, tin became scarce in the Levant, causing a decline in bronze production. Copper, also, came to be in short supply. As a result, pirate groups around the Mediterranean, from around 1800–1700 BC onward, began to attack fortified cities in search of bronze, to remelt into weaponry.

Bronze was much more abundant in the period before the 12th to 10th century, and Snodgrass^[9][10] suggests that a shortage of tin, as a result of the trade disruptions in the Mediterranean at this time, forced peoples to seek an alternative to bronze. That many bronze items were recycled and made from implements into weapons during this time, is evidence of this.

Social organization

During the Iron Age there was an abrupt transition from a tribal and clan-based society to a sovereign state form of government where de jure and de facto rights of individuals were replaced by sovereignty to the state. Better availability of iron as a raw material allowed for new weapons development and large scale production. Military strategy like The Art of War and advancement in technology such as the chariot as an instrument of war allowed for massive invasion, which resulted in territorial integrity, which in turn could support a military and a money economy. These developments along with rapid technology transfer led to the emergence of the empire.

Ancient Near East

Transition

The Iron Age in the Ancient Near East is believed to have begun with the discovery of iron smelting and smithing techniques in Anatolia or the Caucasus and Balkans in the late 2nd millennium BC (circa 1300 BC).^[11]

The development of iron smelting was once attributed to the Hittites of Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age. It was believed that they maintained a monopoly on ironworking, and that their empire had been based on that advantage. This theory is no longer held in the mainstream of scholarship, since there is no archaeological evidence of the alleged Hittite monopoly. 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.^[12]

The use of iron weapons instead of bronze weapons spread rapidly throughout the Near East or the southwest Asia by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The technology expanded into both Asia and Europe simultaneously.^[13]

Finds of Iron
Early examples and distribution of non precious metal finds.^[14]

Date	Crete	Aegean	Greece	Cyprus	Total	Anatolia	Grand total
1300–1200 BC	5	2	9	0	16	33	65
1200–1100 BC	1	2	8	26	37	N.A.	74
1100–1000 BC	13	3	31	33	80	N.A.	160
1000–900 BC	37E	30	115	29	1.40	N.A.	211
Total Bronze Age	5	2	9	0	16	33	65
Total Iron Age	51	35	163	88	337	N.A.	511

Assyria

Levant

Anatolia

Aegean

Egypt

South Asia

Indian Subcontinent

Archaeological sites in India, such as Malhar, Dadupur, Raja Nala Ka Tila and Lahuradewa in present day Uttar Pradesh show iron implements in the period 1800 BC – 1200 BC.^[7] Archaeological excavations in Hyderabad show an iron age burial site ^[15] Some scholars believe that by the early 13th century BC, iron smelting was practiced on a bigger scale in India, suggesting that the date of the technology's inception may be earlier.^[7]

The beginning of the 1st millennium BC saw extensive developments in iron metallurgy in India. Technological advancement and mastery of iron metallurgy was achieved during this period of peaceful settlements. An iron working centre in east India is dated to the first millennium BC.^[16]

In Southern India (present day Mysore) iron appeared as early as 11th to 12th centuries BC; these developments were too early for any significant close contact with the northwest of the country.^[16]The Indian Upanishads mention weaving, pottery, and metallurgy.^[17] The Indian Mauryan period saw advances in metallurgy.^[18]

As early as 300 BC, certainly by AD 200, 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 crucible and heated until the iron melted and absorbed the carbon.^[19]

Sri Lanka

The protohistoric Early Iron Age in Sri Lanka lasted from 1000 to 600 BC. Radiocarbon evidence has been collected from Anuradhapura and Aligala shelter in Sigiriya.^[20][21][22] The Anuradhapura settlement is recorded to extend 10 hectares by 800 B and grew to 50 hectares by 700 - 600 BC to become a town.^[23] The skeletal remains of an Early Iron Age chief was 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 BCE. Ko, meaning "King" in Tamil, is comparable to such names as Ko Atan and Ko Putivira occurring in contemporary Tamil Brahmi inscriptions in south India.^[24] It is also speculated that Early Iron Age sites may exist in Kandarodai, Matota, Pilapitiya and Tissamaharama.^[25]

Europe

Iron working was introduced to Europe in the late 11th century BC,^[26] probably from Asia Minor and slowly spread northwards and westwards over the succeeding 500 years.

Eastern Europe

The early 1st millennium BC marks the Iron Age in Eastern Europe. In the Pontic steppe and the Caucasus region, the Iron Age begins with the Koban and the Chernogorovka and Novocherkassk cultures from ca. 900 BC. By 800 BC, it was spreading to Hallstatt C via the alleged "Thraco-Cimmerian" migrations.

Along with Chernogorovka and Novocherkassk cultures, on the territory of ancient Russia and Ukraine the Iron Age is to a significant extent associated with Scythians, who developed iron culture since the 7th century BC. The majority of remains of their iron producing and blacksmith's industries from 5th to 3rd century BC was found near Nikopol in Kamenskoe Gorodishche, which is believed to be the specialized metallurgic region of the ancient Scythia.^[27][28]

From the Hallstatt culture, the Iron Age spreads west with the Celtic expansion from the 6th century BC. In Poland, the Iron Age reaches the late Lusatian culture in about the 6th century, followed in some areas by the Pomeranian culture.

The ethnic ascriptions of many Iron Age cultures has been bitterly contested, as the roots of Germanic, Baltic and Slavic peoples were sought in this area.

Central Europe

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

Italy

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

British Isles

In the British Isles, the Iron Age lasted from about 800 BC^[29] until the Roman Conquest and until the 5th century in non-Romanised parts. Structures dating from this time are often impressive, for example the brochs and duns of northern Scotland and the hill forts that dotted the islands.

Northern Europe

The Iron Age north of the Alps is divided into the Pre-Roman Iron Age and the Roman Iron Age. In Scandinavia, further prehistoric periods follow up to AD 1000: the Migration Period, the Vendel or Merovingian Period and the Viking Period. The earliest part of the Iron Age in Northern Germany and Denmark was dominated by the Jastorf culture.

Early Scandinavian iron production typically involved the harvesting of bog iron. The Scandinavian peninsula, Finland and Estonia show sophisticated iron production from c. 500 BC. Metalworking and Asbestos-Ceramic pottery co-occur to some extent. Another iron ore used is was iron sand (such as red soil). Its high phosphorus content can be identified in slag. Such slag is sometimes found together with asbestos ware-associated axe types belonging to the Ananjino Culture.

Inner Asia

The Iron Age in Central Asia began when iron objects appear among the Indo-European Saka in present-day Xinjiang between the 10th century BC and the 7th century BC, such as those found at the cemetery site of Chawuhukou.^[30]

East Asia

China

This was soon followed by the development of iron metallurgy on the Manchurian plain by the 9th century BC.^[31] Iron metallurgy reached the Yangzi Valley toward the end of the 6th century BC.^[32] 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).

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 tentatively been associated with the Zhang Zhung culture described in early Tibetan writings.

Korea

Iron objects were introduced to the Korean peninsula through trade with chiefdoms and state-level societies in the Yellow Sea area in the fourth century BC, just at the end of the Warring States Period but before the Western Han Dynasty began.^[33][34] 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.^[35] Iron production quickly followed in the 2nd century BC, and iron implements came to be used by farmers by the 1st century in southern Korea.^[33] 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^[34][36] Iron ingots were an important mortuary item and indicated the wealth or prestige of the deceased in this period.^[37]

Japan

The Yayoi period (弥生時代, Yayoi-jidai^?) is an era in the history of Japan from about 500 BC to AD 300.^[38] Distinguishing characteristics of the Yayoi period include the appearance of new pottery styles and the start of an intensive rice agriculture in paddy fields. The Yayoi followed the Jōmon period (14,000 BC to 500 BC) and Yayoi culture flourished in a geographic area from southern Kyūshū to northern Honshū.

The succeeding Kofun period (古墳時代, Kofun-jidai^?) lasts from around 250 to 538. The word kofun is Japanese for the type of burial mounds dating from this era. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes referred to collectively as the Yamato period. Iron items, such as tools, weapons, and decorative objects, are postulated to have entered Japan during this era or the late Yayoi period, most likely through contacts with the Korean Peninsula and China.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Iron metallurgy is attested in the Nok culture of central Nigeria around 500 BC. Iron and copper working in Sub-Saharan Africa spread in conjunction with the Bantu expansion, from the African Great Lakes in the 3rd century BC, reaching the Cape around AD 400.^[1] The earliest instances of iron smelting in Termit, Niger may date to as early as 1200 BC.^[1]

The widespread use of iron revolutionized the Bantu-speaking farming communities who adopted it, driving out and absorbing the rock tool using hunter-gatherer societies they encountered as they expanded to farm wider areas of savannah. The technologically superior Bantu-speakers spread across southern Africa and became wealthy and powerful, producing iron for tools and weapons in large, industrial quantities.^[1] In addition to wrought iron, very early instances of carbon steel were found to be in production around 2000 years before present in northwest Tanzania, based on complex preheating principles. These discoveries, according to Schmidt and Avery (archaeologists credited with the discovery) are significant for the history of metallurgy.^[39]

See also

• List of archaeological periods
• List of archaeological sites
• History of ferrous metallurgy
• Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures
• Fogou
• Iron
• Smelting
• Blast furnace
• Three age system
• Smith (metalwork)
• Roman metallurgy

References

External links

• A site with a focus on Iron Age Britain from resourcesforhistory.com
• About Iron Age China and Europe

Three-age system Stone Age · Bronze Age · Iron Age List of archaeological periods