IRON AGE

1200 B.C. AND 600B.C.

SLIDESMANIA.COM
 INTRODUCTION
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. For some societies, including Ancient Greece, the start of
the Iron Age was accompanied by a period of cultural decline.

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.
SLIDESMANIA.COM
 CHARACTERISTICS:
•Metalworking for the creation of utensils, tools for plowing the land, decoration,
and jewelry.

•The advancement and improvement of agriculture through the use of stone and
metal tools, as well as innovative techniques such as irrigation canals.

•The discovery of the alloying of metals through the combination of two or more
elements, leading to the creation of bronze from the smelting of copper and tin.

•The use of various metals, including gold, silver, tin, and lead.
SLIDESMANIA.COM
 CHARACTERISTICS:
•The invention of the wheel dating back to the late Neolithic and early Metal Ages. It is
believed to have been invented by the Sumerians, the oldest civilization in the Near East.

•The emergence of sedentary tribes that increased in both number and population
density, giving rise to the earliest urban centers.

•The construction of dwellings and other types of buildings such as temples, storage
spaces for goods, or communal areas for artisanal activity.

•The appearance of megaliths, for ritual or religious purposes, consisting of massive

blocks of stone erected using some complex elevation system.
SLIDESMANIA.COM

•The emergence of metallurgy as a trade, which spread gradually and slowly throughout
the world.
 4. Where societies developed early writing they
are said to be part of a historic (as opposed to a
prehistoric) time period. The ancient
Egyptians could record their own histories and
laws using hieroglyphs.

5. Irrigation and the metal plough transformed the

development of agriculture and meant that, where
the climate permitted, it was possible to farm year
round. Forest clearance led to the development of
10 FACTS
large farms and fields were separated by walls.

6. Growth of trade for bronze and bronze products

was aided by improved navigation skills.
Knowledge of astronomy and mathematics also
developed during this period.

7. The invention of the wheel meant that animal-

SLIDESMANIA.COM

drawn vehicles could drive along tracks and

roads.
 •The stone furnace, used for
smelting metals, crafting pottery,
or heating food.
Major •Pottery, including the
inventions of manufacture of molds for metal
the Metal Ages casting.
•The manufacture of weapons
and armor for warfare.
•Weaving with single yarns.
SLIDESMANIA.COM
 •Irrigation canals to supply vast
harvests.
•The grain mill for grinding cereals.
Major •Early boats, made of logs and, later,
provided with a type of sail for wind
inventions of propulsion, allowing for the transport
the Metal Ages of heavier goods.
•The wheel and, consequently, the
cart as a basic transportation tool,
making trade over greater distances
SLIDESMANIA.COM

possible.