Table of Contents
When did people first start using iron?
West Asia. In the Mesopotamian states of Sumer, Akkad and Assyria, the initial use of iron reaches far back, to perhaps 3000 BC. One of the earliest smelted iron artifacts known was a dagger with an iron blade found in a Hattic tomb in Anatolia, dating from 2500 BC.
Why did the Iron Age start?
Earthquakes, famine, sociopolitical unrest and invasion by nomadic tribes may also have played a role. Some experts believe that a disruption in trade routes may have caused shortages of the copper or tin used to make bronze around this time. Metal smiths, as a result, may have turned to iron as an alternative.
What is the history of the Iron Age?
Contents. When Was the Iron Age? The Iron Age was a period in human history that started between 1200 B.C. and 600 B.C., depending on the region, and followed the Stone Age and Bronze Age. During the Iron Age, people across much of Europe, Asia and parts of Africa began making tools and weapons from iron and steel.
What is the earliest known evidence of iron-making?
The earliest tentative evidence for iron-making is a small number of iron fragments with the appropriate amounts of carbon admixture found in the Proto-Hittite layers at Kaman-Kalehöyük and dated to 2200–2000 BC.
Why did humans not use iron in the Bronze Age?
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.
What is the earliest evidence of Iron Age in Sri Lanka?
The protohistoric Early Iron Age in Sri Lanka lasted from 1000 BC to 600 BC. however evidence of Iron usage was found in Excavation of a Protohistoric Canoe burial Site in Haldummulla and has been dated to 2400 BC. Radiocarbon evidence has been collected from Anuradhapura and Aligala shelter in Sigiriya.