Iron Age

Iron Age Axe found on Gotland

In mythology, the Iron Age is the age following the golden, silver and bronze ages and characterized by a general degeneration of talent and virtue, and of literary excellence. In Roman literature the Iron Age is commonly regarded as beginning after the taking of Rome by the Goths, 410 AD. Throught Greece and Assyrian oral tradition the iron production was believed to have begun with the discovery of iron near the mineral-richness region North of Assyria.

In archaeology, the Iron Age is the stage in the development of any people following the stone and bronze ages and characterized by the use of iron implements in the place of the more cumbrous stone and bronze.

The Iron Age is the last period in the three-age system for classifying pre-historic societies, thus the meaning varies depending on the country or geographical region, but sometimes Nordic Iron Age is equivalent to generally Iron Age, sometimes Roman Iron Age, sometimes others.

For each indiviual region, the period is very hard to state in years, but the Iron Age corresponds to the stage at which iron production was the most sophisticated form of metalworking. The iron's hardness, high melting point and the abundance of iron ore sources made iron more desirable and cheaper than bronze and contributed greatly to its adoption as the most commonly used metal.

Beginning in the mid-2nd millennium BC and orginating in the (late) Andronovo Culture, the base for metallurgical technology is present in Central Asia, Kazakhstan, the Altai Mountains and the Ural Mountains.

The early 1st millenium BC marks the Iron Age in Eastern Europe. In the steppes of the North Black Sea and Azov Sea, as in the other steppe areas of Eurasia, the Iron Age corresponded with the transition of the Eastern European inhabitants from sedentary, pastoral agrarian people to nomadic, animal breeding tribes.

Besides beeing a "stage" in human development, the very early iron (and metal) production is close connected to nomadic hunter-gatherers or animal breeders producing weapons for hunting, such as spearheads and arrowheads. It was earlier considered that some regions using pottery for iron producing, also used the same vessels for household. But this viewpoint is today reconsidered.

Near East

The Iron Age is believed to have begun with the discovery of iron smelting and smithing techniques in Anatolia or the Caucasus in the late 2nd millennium BC. From here it spread rapidly throughout the Near East as iron weapons replaced bronze weapons by the early 1st millennium BC.

British Isles

In Britain, the Iron Age lasted from about the 5th century BC until the Roman conquest and until the 5th century AD in non-Romanised parts. Defensive structures dating from this time are often impressive, for example the brochs of northern Scotland and the hill forts that dotted the rest of the islands. Examples of hill forts include Maiden Castle in Dorset. Their presence is possibly because of greater tension between better structured groups, although there are suggestions that in the latter phases of the Iron Age they existed simply to indicate wealth. Either way, during the Roman occupation the evidence suggests that as defensive structures they proved to be of little use against concerted Roman attack. Some continued as settlements for the newly-Romanised Britons. Some were also re-used by later cultures, such as the Saxons, in the early Medieval period.

Bronze figurine, found at �land

Structures

Coins

Tens of thousands of coins from the Iron Age have been found in Britain. Some, such as gold staters, were imported from mainland Europe others such as the potins of south east England were crude copies of Greek and Roman originals. The British tribal kings also adopted the continental habit of putting their names on the coins they had minted. A native quarter stater entered circulation in the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age. Hoards of iron age coins include the Silsden Hoard in West Yorkshire found in 1998. Of examples that were entirely minted locally a large hoard from the Corielvatu tribe was found in Leicestershire in 2002.

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 T�ne culture (beginning in 450 BC). The Iron age ends with the Roman Conquest.

Nordic

Scandinavia (including Finland) and Northern Balticum shows a small-scaled iron producing very early, but a further dating is currently impossible. The time varies from 5000-1000 BP. This knowledge is associated to the non-Germanic part of Scandinavia. Metalworking and Asbestos-Ceramic is somewhat synonyms in Scandinavia, and its later part with asbestos ware is specifically associated with iron due to its capability to resists and preserve heat. The iron ore is believed to have been iron sand (such as red soil), because its high phosphore part is found in slag. Together with asbestos ware is sometimes found axes belonging to the Ananjino Culture. The Asbestos-Ceramic remains a mysterium, because there is another adiabatic vessels with unknown usage.

It is believed that Southern Scandinavia retains iron production from another path via the Jastorf culture, currently considered to be unconnect with the cultures associated with asbestos-ceramic.

However, Nordic Iron Age refers to the Iron Age similar to that in Northern Germany.

Northern Germany

The Iron Age is divided into the Pre-Roman Iron Age (Jastorf culture) and the Roman Iron Age. This is followed by the Migration period.

East-central and Eastern Europe

In Poland, the Lusatian culture covers both the late Bronze and early Iron Age. It is followed in some areas by the Pomeranian culture. The ethnic ascriptions of many Iron age cultures has been bitterly contested, as the roots of Germanii and Slavs were sought in this area.

Asia

Cast-iron artifacts are found in China that date as early as the Zhou dynasty of the 6th century BC. An Iron Age culture of the Tibetan Plateau has tentatively been associated with the Zhang Zhung culture described in early Tibetan writings.

Three-age system: Stone Age | Bronze Age | Iron Age