The Iron Age c1200 BC-100 AD

_Elsa_

‘The discovery of ways to heat and forge iron kicked off the Iron Age (roughly 1,300 B.C. to 900 B.C.). At the time, the metal was seen as more precious than gold, and wrought iron (which would be replaced by steel with the advent of smelting iron) was easier to manufacture than bronze.

Along with mass production of steel tools and weapons, the age saw even further advances in architecture, with four-room homes, some complete with stables for animals, joining more rudimentary hill forts, as well as royal palaces, temples and other religious structures. Early city planning also took place, with blocks of homes being erected along paved or cobblestone streets and water systems put into place.

Agriculture, art and religion all became more sophisticated, and writing systems and written documentation, including alphabets, began to emerge, ushering in the Early Historical Period.’ (Source)

‘Humans may have smelted iron sporadically throughout the Bronze Age, though they likely saw iron as an inferior metal. Iron tools and weapons weren’t as hard or durable as their bronze counterparts.

The use of iron became more widespread after people learned how to make steel, a much harder metal, by heating iron with carbon. The Hittites—who lived during the Bronze Age in what is now Turkey—may have been the first to make steel.’ (Source)

‘Although the period gets its name from the widespread employment of ferrous metallurgy and the early evolution of carbon steels for tools and weaponry, iron’s emergence as the pre-eminent engineering material of the era was not ushered in by any significant innovations in materials processing. Its rise was more a reflection of the economic conditions created by a series of events in the Mediterranean (volcanic eruptions, invasions, as well as failures of governments) leading to massive disruptions in the international tin trade around 1300BC.

Market pressures caused by tin scarcity forced metalworkers to search for alternative metals, with the plentiful iron (which was known in the Bronze Age but considered inferior) becoming the material of the day. The main aim of technologists was how to improve iron by hardening it through physical and chemical processes, while there is also evidence that metalworkers were recycling bronze. As cheap steel improved, weapons became stronger, lighter and harder, with the result that when tin re-emerged onto the market, it was no longer price-competitive as a mass-production metal.’ (Source)

Let’s continue - The beginning of recording human civilization

Start at the beginning – Tiffi goes back to school to learn about the prehistoric ages