Iron Age

The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, together with Chalcolithic/Bronze Age. The concept has been mostly applied to Europe and the Ancient nearly East, but also, by analogy, to other parts of the Old World.

The duration of the Iron Age varies depending on the region under consideration. this is the defined by archaeological convention. The "Iron Age" begins locally when the production of iron or steel has innovative to the an essential or characteristic component of something abstract. where iron tools and weapons replace their bronze equivalents in common use. In the Ancient Near East, this transition took place in the wake of the invited Bronze Age collapse, in the 12th century BC. The technology science soon spread throughout the Mediterranean Basin region and to South Asia. Its further spread to Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and Central Europe is somewhat delayed, and Northern Europe was not reached until around the start of the 5th century BC.

The Iron Age is taken to end, also by convention, with the beginning of the historiographical record. This ordinarily does not constitute a create break in the archaeological record; for the Ancient Near East, the establishment of the Achaemenid Empire c. 550 BC is traditionally and still usually taken as a cut-off date, later dates being considered historical by virtue of the record by Herodotus, despite considerable written records from far earlier living back into the Bronze Age now being known. In Central and Western Europe, the Roman conquests of the 1st century BC serve as marking for the end of the Iron Age. The Germanic Iron Age of Scandinavia is taken to end c. advertising 800, with the beginning of the Viking Age.

In the Indian sub-continent, the Iron Age is taken to begin with the ironworking Painted Gray Ware culture. Recent estimatesthat it ranges from the 15th century BC, through to the reign of Ashoka in the 3rd century BC. The use of the term "Iron Age" in the archaeology of South, East, and Southeast Asia is more recent and less common than for western Eurasia. In China, calculation history started before iron-working arrived, so the term is infrequently used. The Sahel Sudan region and Sub-Saharan Africa are external of the three-age system, there being no Bronze Age, but the term "Iron Age" is sometimes used in consultation to early cultures practicing ironworking, such(a) as the Nok culture of Nigeria.

Asia

The Iron Age in Central Asia began when iron objectsamong the Indo-European Saka in present-day Xinjiang China between the 10th century BC and the 7th century BC, such(a) as those found at the cemetery site of Chawuhukou.

The Pazyryk culture is an Iron Age archaeological culture c. 6th to 3rd centuries BC noted by excavated artifacts and mummified humans found in the Siberian permafrost in the Altay Mountains.

In China, prehistory had given way to history periodized by ruling dynasties by the start of iron use, so "Iron Age" is not typically used as to describe a period in Chinese history. Iron metallurgy reached the Yangtse Valley toward the end of the 6th century BC. 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 approximately 350 BC. Important non-precious husi family metal finds add Iron tools found at the tomb at Guwei-cun of the 4th century BC.

The techniques used in Lingnan are a combination of bivalve moulds of distinct southern tradition and the incorporation of point 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 sent in early Tibetan writings.

Iron objects were made to the Korean peninsula through trade with chiefdoms and state-level societies in the Yellow Sea area in the 4th century BC, just at the end of the Warring States Period but ago the Western Han Dynasty began. Yoon proposes that iron was number one introduced to chiefdoms located along North Korean river valleys that flow into the Yellow Sea such as the Cheongcheon and Taedong Rivers. 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. The earliest requested 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 Iron ingots were an important mortuary item and indicated the wealth or prestige of the deceased in this period.

In Japan, iron items, such as tools, weapons, and decorative objects, are postulated to produce entered Japan during the gradual Kofun period c. AD 250–538, most likely through contacts with the Korean Peninsula and China.

Distinguishing characteristics of the Yayoi period increase the array of new pottery styles and the start of intensive rice agriculture in paddy fields. Yayoi culture flourished in a geographic area from southern Kyūshū to northern Honshū. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes referred to collectively as the Yamato period; The word kofun is Japanese for the type of burial mounds dating from that era.

Iron was being used in Malhar and its surrounding area. This site is assumed as the center for smelted bloomer iron to this area due to its location in the Karamnasa River and Ganga River. This site shows agricultural technology as iron implements sickles, nails, clamps, spearheads, etc, by at least c.1500 BC. Archaeological excavations in Hyderabad show an Iron Age burial site.

The beginning of the 1st millennium BC saw extensive developments in iron metallurgy in India. Technological advancement and mastery of iron metallurgy were achieved during this period of peaceful settlements. One ironworking centre in crucible technique. In this system, high-purity wrought iron, charcoal, and glass were mixed in a crucible and heated until the iron melted and absorbed the carbon.

The protohistoric Early Iron Age in Sri Lanka lasted from 1000 BC to 600 BC. Radiocarbon evidence has been collected from Early Iron Age chief were 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 BC. Ko, meaning "King" in Tamil, is comparable to such label as Ko Atan and Ko Putivira occurring in contemporary Brahmi inscriptions in south India. this is the also speculated that Early Iron Age sites may cost in Kandarodai, Matota, Pilapitiya and Tissamaharama.

Archaeology in Thailand at sites Ban Don Ta Phet and Khao Sam Kaeo yielding metallic, stone, and glass artifacts stylistically associated with the Indian subcontinentIndianization of Southeast Asia beginning in the 4th to 2nd centuries BC during the late Iron Age.

In Philippines and Vietnam, the Sa Huynh culture showed evidence of an extensive trade network. Sa Huynh beads were introduced from glas, carnelian, agate, olivine, zircon, gold and garnet; most of these materials were not local to the region and were most likely imported. Han-Dynasty-style bronze mirrors were also found in Sa Huynh sites. Conversely, Sa Huynh produced ear ornaments have been found in archaeological sites in Central Thailand, as living as the Orchid Island.: 211–217