Iron Age

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Iron Age (or Early Iron Age), the techno‐cultural term for the period that follows the Bronze Age and precedes the Early Medieval period. Its beginning, defined by the earliest significant use of iron, is unclear. It was no later than the 3rd century bc, when La Tène material began to arrive, but might have been several centuries earlier, when iron was in use amongst British and continental cultures which were in contact with Ireland. The end of the period is defined, rather arbitrarily, as the beginning of Christianization, which event is given a notional 5th‐century date. While the Irish Iron Age is well represented by metal artefacts (ornaments, harness‐pieces, and weapons), almost all of which indicate high‐status owners, its settlements and mundane artefacts remain undiscovered. It is certain, however, that its ritual elements—great internally ditched enclosures (such as Emain Macha) and ring‐barrows—are indigenous in origin. The types of settlement, hillfort, and pottery characteristic of Iron Age cultures on the Continent are entirely absent from Iron Age Ireland. For these and other reasons the notion of a major population intrusion into Ireland from the Celtic world, or from anywhere else, at the inception of, or during, the Iron Age is unsupportable.

The Irish Iron Age is now believed to have consisted of a number of separate cultural elements. The rich Irish La Tène assemblage, probably indicating cattle‐rearing warrior groups, consists of objects and art styles originally derived from Britain and the Continent. But while such objects are without doubt the best known and most visible part of the cultural assemblage of the Irish Iron Age they have a limited distribution. A geographically distinct, apparently artefact‐impoverished, cereal‐growing population can be demonstrated over much of the country by the wide distribution of rotary querns of a distinctive type. Strong Roman influences can also be seen in certain areas. Curiously, in the southern third of the country (most of Munster and southern Leinster), it has proved virtually impossible to identify or describe an Iron Age at all. The La Tène and Roman assemblages are best explained as the result of the intrusion of limited numbers of warrior adventurers and there can be no doubt that the bulk of the population remained genetically unchanged from the Bronze Age, and continued thus into the Early Medieval period.

Richard Warner

Iron Age period in the development of industry that begins with the general use of iron and continues into modern times. In Asia, Egypt, and Europe it was preceded by the Bronze Age . It did not begin in the Americas until the coming of the Europeans. Iron beads were worn in Egypt as early as 4000 BC, but these were of meteoric iron, evidently shaped by the rubbing process used in shaping implements of stone. The oldest known article of iron shaped by hammering is a dagger found in Egypt that was made before 1350 BC This dagger is believed not to have been made in Egypt but to be of Hittite workmanship. The use of smelted iron ornaments and ceremonial weapons became common during the period extending from 1900 to 1400 BC About this time, the invention of tempering (see forging ) was made by the Chalybes of the Hittite empire. It is possible that the Hittite kings kept ironworking techniques secret and restricted export of iron weapons. After the downfall of the Hittite empire in 1200 BC, the great waves of migrants spreading through S Europe and the Middle East insured the rapid transmission of iron technology. In Europe knowledge of iron smelting was acquired in Greece and the Balkans, and somewhat later in N Italy (see Etruscan civilization ; Villanovan culture ) and central Europe. The Early Iron Age in central Europe, dating from c.800 BC to c.500 BC, is known as the Hallstatt period. Celtic migrations, beginning in the 5th cent. BC, spread the use of iron into W Europe and to the British Isles. The Late Iron Age in Europe, which is dated from this period, is called La Tène . The casting of iron did not become technically useful until the Industrial Revolution. The people of the Iron Age developed the basic economic innovations of the Bronze Age and laid the foundations for feudal organization. They utilized the crops and domesticated animals introduced earlier from the Middle East. Ox-drawn plows and wheeled vehicles acquired a new importance and changed the agricultural patterns. For the first time humans were able to exploit efficiently the temperate forests. Villages were fortified, warfare was conducted on horseback and in horse-drawn chariots, and alphabetic writing based on the Phoenician script became widespread. Distinctive art styles in metal, pottery, and stone characterized many Iron Age cultures.

Iron Age The period of prehistory distinguished technologically by the use of iron. This was first mastered on a large scale by the HITTITES in Anatolia between 1500 and 1200 BC, and spread to the Aegean, and thence to south-east and central Europe and Italy. The spread was slow across Europe, as it only gradually replaced bronze. In Africa the Iron Age immediately followed the STONE AGE, bronze entering much later. In America, iron was not discovered before being introduced from Europe. The culture of the early European Iron Age (c.750–450 BC) is known as Hallstatt culture, after the site of a prehistoric cemetery near the town of Hallstatt in Austria. At first cremation was the rule, as were flat or low graves, though later the tumulus or raised barrow became standard. As iron became common, burial was used as well as cremation, and the quality of the characteristic geometric-style pottery degenerated. It was superseded by the late Iron Age Celtic La Tène culture, named after an archaeological site near Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland. La Tène culture began in c.450 BC, when the Celts came into contact with Greek and Etruscan civilization. It lasted, with various developments, until the 1st century BC, when most of the Celts came under the aegis of the Roman empire. A distinct artistic style developed, characterized by such devices as s-shapes, spirals, and circular patterns, which show that La Tène artists were influenced by Greek and Etruscan motifs. The finest examples of La Tène art display a remarkable mixture of abstract and figurative animal and vegetable representations. The society fragmented from about 400 BC but certain items including long iron swords, decorated scabbards, belts, shield bosses, hammers, sickles, and plough shares continued to be found throughout the area. Invaders from the north at first brought new artefacts and artistic devices, but the culture eventually disappeared.

Iron Age Period succeeding the Bronze Age, dating from about 1100 bc in the Near East, later in w Europe. During this period people learned to smelt iron, although the Hittites had probably developed the first significant iron industry in Armenia soon after 2000 bc.

I·ron Age 1. a period that followed the Bronze Age, when weapons and tools came to be made of iron. 2. (in Greek and Roman mythology) the last and worst age of the world, a time of wickedness and oppression.

iron age Used to describe the period prior to the current Internet period when early technology such as card readers and ferrite core memories were employed.