The Evolution of the Iron Age: A Complete Timeline 1200 to 500 B.C.E | Documentary

As the world left the Bronze Age and developed a wider understanding of the intricacies and benefits of metal, more and more materials were harnessed. This led to bursts of technological advancement across the world, of which one metal in particular, iron, played a huge part. The Iron Age was the last of the metal ages, following the ages of both copper and bronze. And represents a time where many cultures had long left behind the basic tools of the Stone Age. As it took place with both the preceding ages, different regions of the world entered the Iron Age at various times in history. Technology spread to different parts of the world or was independently developed at various times, with more isolated regions taking longer to enter the Iron Age. The Iron Age was a phase in the Earth's history of more advancements in civilization, seeing more and more early nations crop up across the world. Metal became widespread amongst the peoples who had managed to harness it, and this led to technological advancements completely new to the ancient world. Join us as we travel back in time to the Iron Age to meet its most prominent peoples, technologies, and events. Before we begin, it's important to identify just what made an Iron Age civilization qualify for one. Iron in its raw meteoric form was not new to humankind at the advent of the Iron Age. Iron could be found in meteoric rocks that humans were more than capable of hammering and manipulating. From these, the ancient Egyptians produced beads that were possibly used in jewelry. However, these were made long before Egypt formally entered what scientists would consider to be the Iron Age. An Iron Age culture or civilization is defined as one that mass-produces iron, much of which is smelted with steel to produce an alloy. This makes weapons that are more durable than any of the metals used by humans prior to the Iron Age, and once developed, these tools became a staple of ancient life. To produce iron of such quality, early humans needed to attain temperatures of over 1,200 degrees Celsius, requiring pits and ovens that were much more technologically advanced than those that were available in the preceding ages. The Iron Age lasted on average from 1,200 to 500 BCE, but the exact times that individual communities or peoples entered it varied depending on location. Communities of ancient humans in Western Asia and the Fertile Crescent, similarly to the Bronze and Copper Ages, were the first to enter the Iron Age, closely followed by Egypt, Eastern Europe, wider reaches of Africa, and finally both Western and Northern Europe. The advent of the Iron Age is thought to have been the result of a global tin shortage around 1300 BCE. This would have meant that bronze was much harder to come by, and as a result key trade routes around the Mediterranean that transported the alloy to North Africa and Western Asia would have been disturbed. Civilizations needed an alternative if they were to keep making tools, and so iron was gradually harnessed. This new metal was not only stronger, but cheaper and easier to carry, and as a result iron became a favored tool over the now obsolete bronze all over the world. It was the Hittite Empire that are thought to have produced iron first, with just the right levels of carbon that made it of Iron Age quality between the ages of 2,200 BCE and 2,000 BCE. This doesn't mean that this was the start of the Hittite Iron Age, but small iron fragments have been discovered at Hittite settlements in what is now modern-day Turkey. At this stage iron is thought to have been used only sparsely, used mainly by the ruling class, and was not distributed amongst the working classes until roughly 1400 BCE. Smithing techniques that led to the widespread distribution of ironworking first appeared in Anatolia, and the earliest advanced bloomery or iron furnace is known from Jordan, dated to around 930 BCE. Alongside the Hittites, other Mesopotamian civilizations including Sumeria, Assyria, and Babylonia are thought to have produced iron artifacts very early. These tools included basic weapons such as daggers, which were perhaps used as sidearms for ancient warriors and military units. The Hittites in particular were seen as rather ahead of their time, being one of the first civilizations to produce longer blades such as swords and eventually spears out of iron. The mass production of such weapons made the Hittites a formidable military power, eventually developing powerful chariots composed of iron elements that could race towards the enemy at speed, pulled by horses and occupied by heavily armored soldiers. At their height, the Hittite army was composed of 50,000 warriors, each equipped with formidable iron weapons that would help their civilization stand for around 400 years. One major success story of the Iron Age took place in the lands that today contain the vast West Asian country of Iran. Nomadic herders of sheep, cattle, and goats who wandered across the vast plains and hills of this ancient land would eventually settle, thriving from great quantities of iron and steel. They would eventually become known as Persians. The Persian Empire would eventually become one of the largest civilizations ever seen in human history, spanning at its height from Egypt in the west to Pakistan in the east. Along the way would lie the modern nations of Afghanistan, Turkey, Iran, and more. A vast land of rich history and legendary military capabilities. Like the Hittites, they produced iron and steel armor, but they would go on to armor the horses they fought atop. Eventually the Persians would build colossal cities and some of the most powerful armies the world has ever known. Iron first became widely used in what is today China in the 9th century BCE and reached the wider stretches of civilization by the 6th century BCE. Amongst the iron objects produced by the ancient Chinese included knives and daggers, swords and arrowheads that would have been much more effective and damage inducing than the basic copper and stone points that preceded them. Outside of weaponry, ancient Chinese metalsmiths were capable of producing bells, containers, and ornaments for both religious, decorative, and practical purposes. Across the ocean, the islands of Japan were much later to enter the Iron Age, transitioning from the usage of copper and bronze between the years of 300 BC and 300 AD. The most distinctive changes of the Japanese Iron Age can be found in the introduction of intricately designed pottery, agricultural developments, and weaponry. Distinctive burial mounds were also utilized here that characterize Iron Age Japanese settlements. Ancient Koreans managed to enter the Iron Age slightly earlier, around the 4th century BC, and are thought to have obtained their knowledge of metalworking through centuries of trade with neighboring Chinese. Traders would congregate along the North Korean valleys and the technologies would trickle south from here. Koreans would eventually start to develop their own iron tools, hand axes, blades, and more. Ironworking is thought to have arrived in India around the first millennium BC, reaching the subcontinent's southern reaches a few hundred years later. Evidence of ancient Indian metalworking has been found in sites that were reserved for the trade and production of iron tools, including spearheads, nails, farming tools, and blades. From South India, the Iron Age would eventually reach Sri Lanka, most prominently in the Anuradhapura settlement, where the skeleton of an Iron Age chieftain has previously been discovered, buried alongside iron tools and scripts that define him as a leader. Further east, intricate trading networks were set up between the regions that would one day become Vietnam and the islands of the Philippines. It wasn't just iron that was traded here, but glass, carnelian, gold, zircon, and garnet, all of which were imported from wider trade networks. Beads were typically produced from these materials and sold from civilization to civilization, which led to the development of culture in the region. The Iron Age in Europe is characterized by the emergence of spectacular hillforts, weapons technologies, and tribal cultures that existed throughout much of the continent's northern and western reaches. The mighty civilizations of Rome, as well as the various cultures of Greece, had already established themselves by the time the Iron Age reached wider Europe, and the Iron Age in fact came to a close for many of these cultures when they were conquered by and assimilated into the Roman Empire. Iron working technologies first trickled into Europe in the 11th century BC, from cultures living in and around the Caucasus mountains that covered parts of western Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. As the knowledge of iron and its advantages reached a wider range of peoples, it started to slowly replace bronze as the favorite metal of which to make weapons, tools, ornaments, and construction equipment. As is the trend with the Iron Age across the continents, different parts of Europe entered this stage in prehistory at various times, starting in the east and ending in the northwest. Two cultures dominated western and central Europe throughout the course of the Iron Age. The first and most prominent was the Hallstatt culture, based on agriculture that was supplemented by a knowledge of metalworking and production. Different technologies and ways of living were introduced throughout Europe during the different centuries of the Hallstatt's cultural predominance. In the early years from 1200 to 700 BC, the culture is known for archaeological discoveries such as flat graves and polychrome pottery. As the years progressed, later sites contain an abundance of heavy swords composed of both bronze and iron. These weapons would have become more diverse and would have been interspersed by ornaments and tools around 600 BC, where daggers, rings, and brooches are commonly discovered. The Hallstatt culture would eventually give way to the La Tène culture, which became dominant around 450 BC. At first, this was characterized by swirling, spiraling patterns that were engraved onto weapons, shields, and tools, but newer discoveries contain a multitude of advanced weapons and farming equipment, everything from lance heads, knives, and swords, to chains, hooks, saws, scythes, and armor. The Iron Age in Britain was characterized by the rise of spectacular hillforts, defensive structures surrounded by stone or wooden palisade walls that were built atop tall hills. The height made them difficult for enemies to scale and conquer, and were likely initially built to defend communities from raiders or neighboring invaders. They would eventually be utilized as defensive points against the invading Roman Empire, who would go on to conquer Britain and bring about much of the culture and religion we know today. Many of these hillforts doubled up as general settlements, and entire communities were centralized within and around them. As well as military defenses, within some hillforts can be seen roundhouses, granaries, temples, graveyards, treasuries, and facilities for producing pottery. Africa, with the exception of Egypt, is thought to have entered the Iron Age around 300 BC, with the earliest evidence having been discovered in what is today Tanzania at a site known as KM2. Iron was being produced here in large quantities, aided by the use of furnaces that could heat the metal to extreme temperatures. These furnaces were constructed from clay, and the primary purpose of these furnaces seems to have been to help the local people create pottery, which appears to have been widely produced at the It is thought that people living in sub-Saharan Africa may have actually developed ironworking independently, with no influence from Europe, Asia, or even North African regions such as Egypt or Nubia. It appears to have been initially developed in southwest Africa, spreading both south and east in time. It soon reached Cameroon and South Africa, eventually traveling throughout the African Great Lakes and Rift Valley regions. As for Egypt, iron was typically considered an impure metal by the ancients. Bronze remained the most commonly used metal throughout the remainder of Egyptian prehistory, and iron was used only sparingly. Iron was associated with the god Set, an evil spirit who ruled over the deserts of Africa, and to use iron would be to affiliate their temples, structures, and weapons to him. Some of the only iron artifacts to have been discovered from ancient Egypt include daggers and swords, which have been discovered within pyramids. So that was a rundown of the Iron Age in the continents of the Old World, Asia, Europe, and Africa. As the Iron Age came to a close, the world gradually exited the time known collectively as prehistory, with the advent of writing and the rise of great empires across the world. The Romans, for example, would go on to conquer almost all of Western and Southern Europe, as well as large stretches of West Asia and North Africa. The culture and writing systems of these ancient empires would bring formally recorded history to the world, leaving the worlds of hillforts, megaliths, and the old gods behind forever. But that's a story for another day.