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IRON AGE

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 801 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

IRON See also:AGE , the third of the three periods, See also:Stone, See also:Bronze and Iron Ages, into which archaeologists See also:divide prehistoric See also:time; the weapons, utensils and implements being as a See also:general See also:rule made of iron (see See also:ARCHAEOLOGY). The See also:term has no real See also:chronological value, for there has been no universal synchronous sequence of the three epochs in all quarters of the See also:world. Some countries, such as the islands of the See also:South Pacific, the interior of See also:Africa, and parts of See also:North and South See also:America. have passed See also:direct from the Stone to the Iron Age. In See also:Europe the Iron Age may be said to See also:cover the last years of the prehistoric and the See also:early years of the historic periods. In See also:Egypt, See also:Chaldaea, See also:Assyria, See also:China, it reaches far back, to perhaps 4000 years before the See also:Christian era. In Africa, where there has been no Bronze Age, the use of iron succeeded immediately the use of stone. In the See also:Black See also:Pyramid of Abusir (Vlth See also:Dynasty), at least 3000 B.C., Gaston See also:Maspero found some pieces of iron, and in the funeral See also:text of Pepi I. (about 3400 B.c.) the See also:metal is mentioned. The use of iron in See also:northern Europe would seem to have been fairly general See also:long before the invasion of See also:Caesar. But iron was not in See also:common use in See also:Denmark until the end of the 1st See also:century A.U. In the north of See also:Russia and See also:Siberia its introduction was even as See also:late as A.D. 800, while See also:Ireland enters upon her Iron Age about the beginning of the 1st century.

In See also:

Gaul, on the other See also:hand, the Iron Age See also:dates back some 800 years B.C.; while in See also:Etruria the metal was known some six centuries earlier. See also:Homer represents See also:Greece as beginning her Iron Age twelve See also:hundred years before our era. The knowledge of iron spread from the south to the north of Europe. In approaching the See also:East from the north of Siberia or from the south of Greece and the See also:Troad, the See also:history of iron in each See also:country eastward is relatively later; while a See also:review of See also:European countries from the north towards the south shows the latter becoming acquainted with the metal earlier than the former It is suggested that these facts support the theory that it is from Africa that iron first came into use. The finding of worked iron in the See also:Great Pyramids seems to corroborate this view. The metal, however, is singularly scarce in collections of See also:Egyptian antiquities. The explanation of this would seem to See also:lie in the fact that the See also:relics are in most cases the See also:paraphernalia of tombs, the funereal vessels and vases, and iron being considered an impure metal by the See also:ancient Egyptians it was never used in their manufacture of these or for any religious purposes. This See also:idea of impurity would seem a further See also:proof of the See also:African origin of iron. It was attributed to See also:Seth, the spirit of evil who according to Egyptian tradition governed the central deserts of Africa. The Iron Age in Europe is characterized by an elaboration of designs in weapons, implements and utensils. These are no longer See also:cast but hammered into shape, and decoration is elaborate See also:curvilinear rather than See also:simple rectilinear, the forms and See also:character of the ornamentation of the 't.~thern European weapons resembling in some respects See also:Roman a*ns, while in others they are See also:peculiar and evidently representative of northern See also:art. The dead were buried in an extended position, while in the preceding Bronze Age See also:cremation had been the rule.

See See also:

Lord See also:Avebury, Prehistoric Times (1865; 19oo); See also:Sir J. See also:Evans, Ancient Stone Implements (1897) ; Horae Ferales, or Studies -in the Archaeology of Northern Nations, by See also:Kemble (1863); Gaston C. C. Maspero, See also:Guide du Mitsee de Boulaq, 296; See also:Scotland in See also:Pagan Times —The Iron Age, by See also:Joseph See also:Anderson (1883).

End of Article: IRON AGE

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