Iron Age

The Iron Age (c. 1200 – c. 550 BC) was the last time period of the three main metal ages in history, coming after the Copper Age and Bronze Age. It started when people began to make and use tools and weapons from iron, especially a stronger form called steel, instead of bronze. This change began around 1300 BC in places like Anatolia, the Caucasus, and Southeast Europe.

The Iron Age spread from these areas to many other parts of the world over hundreds of years. It reached the Mediterranean basin and South Asia between the 12th and 11th centuries BC, and later came to Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, and Northern Europe around the 5th century BC. In India, the Iron Age began around 1200 BC with a culture known for its iron tools called the Painted Grey Ware culture.

Some places, like parts of Africa, went straight from using stone tools to iron without a Bronze Age. Some experts think people in sub-Saharan Africa might have started working with iron as early as 2000 BC, all on their own. The end of the Iron Age is different in each region, depending on when writing and big empires began. For example, in Central and Western Europe, the Roman Empire’s conquests around the 1st century BC marked the end of the Iron Age.

History of the concept

The idea of dividing history into three ages—Stone, Bronze, and Iron—was first used in Europe in the early 1800s. By the late 1800s, this idea was also applied to the ancient Near East. It is based on an old story called the "Ages of Man" by a writer named Hesiod. A man named Christian Jürgensen Thomsen brought this idea to Scandinavia in the 1830s. By the 1860s, historians began using it to talk about the very early history of people everywhere. The way we now divide these time periods was created in the 1920s and 1930s.

Definition of "iron"

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

Long before the Iron Age, people used a special kind of iron found in nature, called meteoric iron. This iron was mixed with nickel, and the oldest pieces we know of are tiny beads made about 3200 BC. These beads were found in ancient graves in a place called Lower Egypt.

What makes the Iron Age special is that people learned to make many tools and weapons from iron that they melted and mixed with carbon. This made their tools and weapons stronger and lighter than the bronze used before. To make iron, people needed very high heat, more than what they could usually make with their old ways of heating things. This is why iron became common only later, after they improved their methods of heating and working with metals.

Chronological history

The Iron Age was the time when people started using iron more often for tools and weapons. It came after the Copper Age and the Bronze Age. This period marks when iron began to replace bronze in everyday items.

Evidence of iron use dates back to around 2200–2000 BC in places like Turkey. By about 1800 BC, iron was being used in places like India and Central Anatolia. In Africa, iron technology developed independently, with early use dating back to between 2000 and 1200 BC in areas such as Nigeria and the Central African Republic.

The Iron Age began around 1200 BC in many places, marking the end of the Bronze Age. In Europe, it started around 800 BC and lasted until about 1 BC. In the ancient Near East, the Iron Age lasted from around 1200 BC to 550 BC. In China, iron use began around 900 BC, though it wasn’t the main material until later.