The widespread use of iron began in what century. Iron Age: general characteristics of the era

Iron Age

an era in the primitive and early class history of mankind, characterized by the spread of iron metallurgy and the manufacture of iron tools. The idea of three centuries: stone, bronze and iron - arose in the ancient world (Titus Lucretius Carus). The term "J. V." was introduced into science around the mid-19th century. Danish archaeologist K. J. Thomsen om. The most important studies, initial classification and dating of monuments of the Jewish century. in Western Europe were made by the Austrian scientist M. Görnes, the Swedish - O. Montelius and O. Oberg, the German - O. Tischler and P. Reinecke, the French - J. Dechelet, the Czech - I. Pich and the Polish - J. Kostrzewski; in Eastern Europe - Russian and Soviet scientists V. A. Gorodtsov, A. A. Spitsyn, Yu. V. Gauthier, P. N. Tretyakov, A. P. Smirnov, H. A. Moora, M. I. Artamonov, B. N. Grakov and others; in Siberia - S. A. Teploukhov, S. V. Kiselev, S. I. Rudenko and others; in the Caucasus - B. A. Kuftin, A. A. Jessen, B. B. Piotrovsky, E. I. Krupnov and others; in Central Asia - S.P. Tolstov, A.N. Bernshtam, A.I. Terenozhkin and others.

All countries experienced the initial spread of the iron industry at different times, but by the ironclad century. usually include only the cultures of primitive tribes that lived outside the territories of ancient slave-owning civilizations that arose in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, India, China, etc.). J.v. compared to previous archaeological eras (Stone and Bronze Ages) is very short. Its chronological boundaries: from 9-7 centuries. BC e., when many primitive tribes of Europe and Asia developed their own iron metallurgy, and before the time when class society and the state emerged among these tribes. Some modern foreign scientists, who consider the end of primitive history to be the time of the appearance of written sources, attribute the end of the Jewish century. Western Europe by the 1st century. BC e., when Roman written sources appear containing information about Western European tribes. Since to this day iron remains the most important metal from whose alloys tools are made, the term “early iron century” is also used for the archaeological periodization of primitive history. On the territory of Western Europe, early life century. only its beginning is called (the so-called Hallstatt culture). Initially, meteorite iron became known to mankind. Individual objects made of iron (mainly jewelry) from the 1st half of the 3rd millennium BC. e. found in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. The method of obtaining iron from ore was discovered in the 2nd millennium BC. e. According to one of the most likely assumptions, the cheese-making process (see below) was first used by tribes subordinate to the Hittites living in the mountains of Armenia (Antitaurus) in the 15th century. BC e. However, for a long time iron remained a rare and very valuable metal. Only after the 11th century. BC e. A fairly widespread production of iron weapons and tools began in Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, and India. At the same time, iron became famous in southern Europe. In the 11th-10th centuries. BC e. individual iron objects penetrated into the region lying north of the Alps and were found in the steppes of the south of the European part of the modern territory of the USSR, but iron tools began to predominate in these areas only from the 8th-7th centuries. BC e. In the 8th century BC e. iron products are widely distributed in Mesopotamia, Iran and somewhat later in Central Asia. The first news of iron in China dates back to the 8th century. BC e., but it spreads only from the 5th century. BC e. In Indochina and Indonesia, iron predominates at the turn of the Common Era. Apparently, since ancient times, iron metallurgy was known to various tribes of Africa. Undoubtedly, already in the 6th century. BC e. iron was produced in Nubia, Sudan, and Libya. In the 2nd century. BC e. J.v. occurred in the central region of Africa. Some African tribes moved from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, bypassing the Bronze Age. In America, Australia and most of the Pacific Islands, iron (except meteorite) became known only in the 16th and 17th centuries. n. e. with the arrival of Europeans in these areas.

In contrast to the relatively rare deposits of copper and especially tin, iron ores, although most often low-grade (brown iron ores), are found almost everywhere. But it is much more difficult to obtain iron from ores than copper. Melting iron was inaccessible to ancient metallurgists. Iron was obtained in a dough-like state using the cheese-blowing process (See Cheese-blowing process) , which consisted in the reduction of iron ore at a temperature of about 900-1350 ° C in special furnaces - forges with air blown by forge bellows through a nozzle. A kritsa formed at the bottom of the furnace - a lump of porous iron weighing 1-5 kg, which had to be forged to compact it, as well as to remove slag from it. Raw iron is a very soft metal; tools and weapons made of pure iron had low mechanical qualities. Only with the discovery in the 9-7 centuries. BC e. With the development of methods for making steel from iron and its heat treatment, the new material began to become widespread. The higher mechanical qualities of iron and steel, as well as the general availability of iron ores and the low cost of the new metal, ensured that they replaced bronze, as well as stone, which remained an important material for the production of tools in the Bronze Age. This did not happen right away. In Europe, only in the 2nd half of the 1st millennium BC. e. iron and steel began to play a truly significant role as materials for the manufacture of tools and weapons. The technical revolution caused by the spread of iron and steel greatly expanded man's power over nature: it became possible to clear large forest areas for crops, expand and improve irrigation and reclamation structures, and generally improve land cultivation. The development of crafts, especially blacksmithing and weapons, is accelerating. Wood processing is being improved for the purposes of house construction, the production of vehicles (ships, chariots, etc.), and the manufacture of various utensils. Craftsmen, from shoemakers and masons to miners, also received more advanced tools. By the beginning of our era, all the main types of handicraft and agricultural. hand tools (except for screws and hinged scissors), used in the Middle Ages, and partly in modern times, were already in use. The construction of roads became easier, military equipment improved, exchange expanded, and metal coins became widespread as a means of circulation.

The development of productive forces associated with the spread of iron, over time, led to the transformation of all social life. As a result of the growth in labor productivity, the surplus product increased, which, in turn, served as an economic prerequisite for the emergence of exploitation of man by man and the collapse of the tribal primitive communal system. One of the sources of the accumulation of values and the growth of property inequality was the expansion in the era of housing. exchange. The possibility of enrichment through exploitation gave rise to wars for the purpose of robbery and enslavement. At the beginning of the Zh. century. fortifications are widespread. During the era of housing. The tribes of Europe and Asia were experiencing the stage of collapse of the primitive communal system and were on the eve of the emergence of class society and the state. The transition of some means of production into the private ownership of the ruling minority, the emergence of slavery, the increased stratification of society and the separation of the tribal aristocracy from the bulk of the population are already features typical of early class societies. For many tribes, the social structure of this transition period took the political form of the so-called. military democracy (See Military democracy).

J.v. on the territory of the USSR. On the modern territory of the USSR, iron first appeared at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. in Transcaucasia (Samtavrsky burial ground) and in the southern European part of the USSR. The development of iron in Racha (Western Georgia) dates back to ancient times. The Mossinoiks and Khalibs, who lived in the neighborhood of the Colchians, were famous as metallurgists. However, the widespread use of iron metallurgy in the USSR dates back to the 1st millennium BC. e. In Transcaucasia, a number of archaeological cultures of the late Bronze Age are known, the flourishing of which dates back to the early Bronze Age: the Central Transcaucasian culture with local centers in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, the Kyzyl-Vank culture (see Kyzyl-Vank), Colchis culture , Urartian culture (see Urartu). In the North Caucasus: Koban culture, Kayakent-Khorochoev culture and Kuban culture. In the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region in the 7th century. BC e. - first centuries AD e. lived by Scythian tribes, who created the most developed culture of the early Western century. on the territory of the USSR. Iron products were found in abundance in settlements and burial mounds of the Scythian period. Signs of metallurgical production were discovered during excavations of a number of Scythian settlements. The largest number of remains of ironworking and blacksmithing industries were found at the Kamensky settlement (See Kamenskoye settlement) (5-3 centuries BC) near Nikopol, which was apparently the center of a specialized metallurgical region of ancient Scythia (see Scythians). Iron tools contributed to the widespread development of all kinds of crafts and the spread of arable farming among the local tribes of the Scythian period. The next period after the Scythian period was the early Zh. century. in the steppes of the Black Sea region it is represented by the Sarmatian culture (see Sarmatians), which dominated here from the 2nd century. BC e. up to 4 c. n. e. In previous times, from the 7th century. BC e. Sarmatians (or Sauromatians) lived between the Don and the Urals. In the first centuries A.D. e. one of the Sarmatian tribes - Alans - began to play a significant historical role and gradually the very name of the Sarmatians was supplanted by the name of the Alans. At the same time, when the Sarmatian tribes dominated the Northern Black Sea region, the cultures of “burial fields” (Zarubinets culture, Chernyakhov culture, etc.) spread in the western regions of the Northern Black Sea region, the Upper and Middle Dnieper and Transnistria. These cultures belonged to agricultural tribes who knew iron metallurgy, among which, according to some scientists, were the ancestors of the Slavs. The tribes living in the central and northern forest regions of the European part of the USSR were familiar with iron metallurgy from the 6th to 5th centuries. BC e. In the 8th-3rd centuries. BC e. In the Kama region, the Ananyinskaya culture was widespread, which was characterized by the coexistence of bronze and iron tools, with the undoubted superiority of the latter at the end of it. The Ananyino culture on the Kama was replaced by the Pyanobor culture (end of the 1st millennium BC - 1st half of the 1st millennium AD).

In the Upper Volga region and in the regions of the Volga-Oka interfluve towards the Zh. century. include the settlements of the Dyakovo culture (See Dyakovo culture) (mid-1st millennium BC - mid-1st millennium AD), and in the territory to the south of the middle reaches of the Oka, to the west of Volga, in the basin of the river. Tsna and Moksha are settlements of the Gorodets culture (See Gorodets culture) (7th century BC - 5th century AD), which belonged to the ancient Finno-Ugric tribes. Numerous 6th century settlements are known in the Upper Dnieper region. BC e. - 7th century n. e., belonging to the ancient Eastern Baltic tribes, later absorbed by the Slavs. The settlements of these same tribes are known in the south-eastern Baltic, where, along with them, there are also cultural remains that belonged to the ancestors of the ancient Estonian (Chud) tribes.

In Southern Siberia and Altai, due to the abundance of copper and tin, the bronze industry developed strongly, successfully competing with iron for a long time. Although iron products apparently appeared already in the early Mayemirian time (Altai; 7th century BC), iron became widespread only in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. (Tagar culture on the Yenisei, Pazyryk mounds in Altai, etc.). Cultures Zh. v. are also represented in other parts of Siberia and the Far East. On the territory of Central Asia and Kazakhstan until the 8th-7th centuries. BC e. tools and weapons were also made of bronze. The appearance of iron products both in agricultural oases and in the pastoral steppe can be dated back to the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. Throughout the 1st millennium BC. e. and in the 1st half of the 1st millennium AD. e. The steppes of Central Asia and Kazakhstan were inhabited by numerous Sak-Usun tribes, in whose culture iron became widespread from the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. In agricultural oases, the time of the appearance of iron coincides with the emergence of the first slave states (Bactria, Sogd, Khorezm).

J.v. on the territory of Western Europe is usually divided into 2 periods - Hallstatt (900-400 BC), which was also called the early, or first Zh. century, and La Tène (400 BC - beginning of AD) , which is called late, or second. The Hallstatt culture was widespread in the territory of modern Austria, Yugoslavia, Northern Italy, partly Czechoslovakia, where it was created by the ancient Illyrians, and in the territory of modern Germany and the Rhine departments of France, where Celtic tribes lived. Cultures close to the Hallstatt period date back to the same time: the Thracian tribes in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, the Etruscan, Ligurian, Italic and other tribes on the Apennine Peninsula, and the cultures of the beginning of the African century. Iberian Peninsula (Iberians, Turdetans, Lusitanians, etc.) and the late Lusatian culture in the river basins. Oder and Vistula. The early Hallstatt period was characterized by the coexistence of bronze and iron tools and weapons and the gradual displacement of bronze. Economically, this era is characterized by the growth of agriculture, and socially, by the collapse of clan relations. In the north of modern East Germany and Germany, Scandinavia, Western France, and England, the Bronze Age still existed at that time. From the beginning of the 5th century. The La Tène culture spreads, characterized by a genuine flourishing of the iron industry. The La Tène culture existed before the Roman conquest of Gaul (1st century BC). The area of distribution of the La Tène culture was the land to the west from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean along the middle course of the Danube and to the north of it. La Tène culture is associated with the Celtic tribes, who had large fortified cities that were centers of tribes and places of concentration of various crafts. During this era, the Celts gradually created a class slave-owning society. Bronze tools are no longer found, but iron became most widespread in Europe during the period of the Roman conquests. At the beginning of our era, in the areas conquered by Rome, the La Tène culture was replaced by the so-called. provincial Roman culture. Iron spread to northern Europe almost 300 years later than to the south. By the end of the European century. refers to the culture of the Germanic tribes that lived in the territory between the North Sea and the river. the Rhine, Danube and Elbe, as well as in the southern Scandinavian Peninsula, and archaeological cultures, the bearers of which are considered the ancestors of the Slavs. In the northern countries, the complete dominance of iron came only at the beginning of our era.

Lit.: Engels F., The origin of the family, private property and the state, Marx K. and Engels F., Works, 2nd ed., vol. 21; Avdusin D. A., Archeology of the USSR, [M.], 1967; Artsikhovsky A.V., Introduction to Archeology, 3rd ed., M., 1947; World History, vol. 1-2, M., 1955-56; Gauthier Yu. V., The Iron Age in Eastern Europe, M. - L., 1930; Grakov B.N., The oldest finds of iron objects in the European part of the USSR, “Soviet Archaeology”, 1958, No. 4; Zagorulsky E.M., Archeology of Belarus, Minsk, 1965; History of the USSR from ancient times to the present day, vol. 1, M., 1966; Kiselev S.V., Ancient history of Southern Siberia, M., 1951; Clark D.G.D., Prehistoric Europe. Economic essay, trans. from English, M., 1953; Krupnov E.I., Ancient history of the North Caucasus, M., 1960; Mongait A.L., Archeology in the USSR, M., 1955; Niederle L., Slavic antiquities, trans. from Czech., M., 1956; Piotrovsky B.B., Archeology of Transcaucasia from ancient times to 1 thousand BC. e., Leningrad, 1949; Tolstov S.P., On the ancient deltas of Oxus and Jaxartes, M., 1962; Shovkoplyas I. G., Archaeological research in Ukraine (1917-1957), K., 1957; Aitchison L., A history of metals, t. 1-2, L., 1960; CLark G., World prehistory, Camb., 1961; Forbes R. J., Studies in ancient technology, v. 8, Leiden, 1964; Johannsen O., Geschichte des Eisens, Düsseldorf, 1953; Laet S. J. de, La préhistoire de l’Europe, P. - Brux., 1967; Moora H., Die Eisenzeit in Lettland bis etwa 500 n. Chr., 1-2, Tartu (Dorpat), 1929-38; Piggott S., Ancient Europe, Edinburgh, 1965; Pleiner R., Stare europske kovářství, Prague, 1962; Tulecote R. F., Metallurgy in archaeology, L., 1962.

L. L. Mongait.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .

See what “Iron Age” is in other dictionaries:

IRON AGE, a period in the development of mankind associated with the development of iron metallurgy and the manufacture of iron tools. It was replaced by the Bronze Age, and in some regions by the Stone Age. In the North Caucasus, iron tools were created from the 9th to 6th centuries. BC e. under... ...Russian history

IRON AGE, a historical period that began with the spread of iron metallurgy and the manufacture of iron tools and weapons. Replaced by the Bronze Age at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC... Modern encyclopedia

A period in the development of mankind that began with the spread of iron metallurgy and the manufacture of iron tools and weapons. Replaced by the Bronze Age mainly in the beginning. 1st millennium BC e. The use of iron gave a powerful impetus to the development of production and... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

The historical period that began with the spread of iron metallurgy and the manufacture of iron tools and weapons. Replaced by the Bronze Age at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC ... Historical Dictionary

English age of iron; German Eisenzeitalter. According to archaeological classification, the period that replaced the Bronze Age. J.v. characterized by the manufacture of the main tools of production and weapons from iron, which played a revolutionary role in history;... ... Encyclopedia of Sociology

A period in the development of mankind that began with the spread of iron metallurgy and the manufacture of iron tools and weapons. Replaced by the Bronze Age mainly at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The use of iron gave a powerful impetus to the development of production and... Encyclopedia of Cultural Studies

iron age

a period in the development of mankind that began with the spread of iron metallurgy and the manufacture of iron tools and weapons. Replaced by the Bronze Age mainly in the beginning. 1st millennium BC e. The use of iron gave a powerful stimulus to the development of production and accelerated social development. In the Iron Age, the majority of the peoples of Eurasia experienced the decomposition of the primitive communal system and the transition to a class society.

Iron Age

an era in the primitive and early class history of mankind, characterized by the spread of iron metallurgy and the manufacture of iron tools. The idea of three centuries: stone, bronze and iron arose in the ancient world (Titus Lucretius Carus). The term "J. V." was introduced into science around the mid-19th century. Danish archaeologist K. J. Thomsen. The most important studies, initial classification and dating of monuments of the Jewish century. in Western Europe were made by the Austrian scientist M. Görnes, the Swedish ≈ O. Montelius and O. Oberg, the German ≈ O. Tischler and P. Reinecke, the French ≈ J. Dechelet, the Czech ≈ I. Pic and the Polish ≈ J. Kostrzewski; in Eastern Europe - Russian and Soviet scientists V. A. Gorodtsov, A. A. Spitsyn, Yu. V. Gauthier, P. N. Tretyakov, A. P. Smirnov, H. A. Moora, M. I. Artamonov, B. N. Grakov and others; in Siberia ≈ S. A. Teploukhov, S. V. Kiselev, S. I. Rudenko and others; in the Caucasus ≈ B. A. Kuftin, A. A. Jessen, B. B. Piotrovsky, E. I. Krupnov and others; in Central Asia ≈ S. P. Tolstov, A. N. Bernshtam, A. I. Terenozhkin and others.

All countries experienced the initial spread of the iron industry at different times, but by the ironclad century. usually include only the cultures of primitive tribes that lived outside the territories of ancient slave-owning civilizations that arose in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, India, China, etc.). J.v. compared to previous archaeological eras (Stone and Bronze Ages) is very short. Its chronological boundaries: from 9th to 7th centuries. BC e., when many primitive tribes of Europe and Asia developed their own iron metallurgy, and before the time when class society and the state emerged among these tribes. Some modern foreign scientists, who consider the end of primitive history to be the time of the appearance of written sources, attribute the end of the Jewish century. Western Europe by the 1st century. BC e., when Roman written sources appear containing information about Western European tribes. Since to this day iron remains the most important metal from whose alloys tools are made, the term “early iron century” is also used for the archaeological periodization of primitive history. On the territory of Western Europe, early life century. only its beginning is called (the so-called Hallstatt culture). Initially, meteorite iron became known to mankind. Individual objects made of iron (mainly jewelry) from the 1st half of the 3rd millennium BC. e. found in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. The method of obtaining iron from ore was discovered in the 2nd millennium BC. e. According to one of the most likely assumptions, the cheese-making process (see below) was first used by tribes subordinate to the Hittites living in the mountains of Armenia (Antitaurus) in the 15th century. BC e. However, for a long time iron remained a rare and very valuable metal. Only after the 11th century. BC e. A fairly widespread production of iron weapons and tools began in Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, and India. At the same time, iron became famous in southern Europe. In the 11th-10th centuries. BC e. individual iron objects penetrated into the region lying north of the Alps and were found in the steppes of the south of the European part of the modern territory of the USSR, but iron tools began to predominate in these areas only from the 8th to 7th centuries. BC e. In the 8th century BC e. iron products are widely distributed in Mesopotamia, Iran and somewhat later in Central Asia. The first news of iron in China dates back to the 8th century. BC e., but it spreads only from the 5th century. BC e. In Indochina and Indonesia, iron predominates at the turn of the Common Era. Apparently, since ancient times, iron metallurgy was known to various tribes of Africa. Undoubtedly, already in the 6th century. BC e. iron was produced in Nubia, Sudan, and Libya. In the 2nd century. BC e. J.v. occurred in the central region of Africa. Some African tribes moved from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, bypassing the Bronze Age. In America, Australia and most of the Pacific Islands, iron (except meteorite) became known only in the 16th–17th centuries. n. e. with the arrival of Europeans in these areas.

In contrast to the relatively rare deposits of copper and especially tin, iron ores, although most often low-grade (brown iron ores), are found almost everywhere. But it is much more difficult to obtain iron from ores than copper. Melting iron was inaccessible to ancient metallurgists. Iron was obtained in a dough-like state using the cheese-blowing process, which consisted of the reduction of iron ore at a temperature of about 900≈1350╟C in special furnaces ≈ forges with air blown by forge bellows through a nozzle. At the bottom of the furnace, a kritsa was formed - a lump of porous iron weighing 1-5 kg, which had to be forged to compact it, as well as remove slag from it. Raw iron is a very soft metal; tools and weapons made of pure iron had low mechanical qualities. Only with the discovery in the 9th–7th centuries. BC e. With the development of methods for making steel from iron and its heat treatment, the new material began to become widespread. The higher mechanical qualities of iron and steel, as well as the general availability of iron ores and the low cost of the new metal, ensured that they replaced bronze, as well as stone, which remained an important material for the production of tools in the Bronze Age. This did not happen right away. In Europe, only in the 2nd half of the 1st millennium BC. e. iron and steel began to play a truly significant role as materials for the manufacture of tools and weapons. The technical revolution caused by the spread of iron and steel greatly expanded man's power over nature: it became possible to clear large forest areas for crops, expand and improve irrigation and reclamation structures, and generally improve land cultivation. The development of crafts, especially blacksmithing and weapons, is accelerating. Wood processing is being improved for the purposes of house construction, the production of vehicles (ships, chariots, etc.), and the manufacture of various utensils. Craftsmen, from shoemakers and masons to miners, also received more advanced tools. By the beginning of our era, all the main types of handicraft and agricultural. hand tools (except for screws and hinged scissors), used in the Middle Ages, and partly in modern times, were already in use. The construction of roads became easier, military equipment improved, exchange expanded, and metal coins became widespread as a means of circulation.

J.v. on the territory of the USSR. On the modern territory of the USSR, iron first appeared at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. in Transcaucasia (Samtavrsky burial ground) and in the southern European part of the USSR. The development of iron in Racha (Western Georgia) dates back to ancient times. The Mossinoiks and Khalibs, who lived in the neighborhood of the Colchians, were famous as metallurgists. However, the widespread use of iron metallurgy in the USSR dates back to the 1st millennium BC. e. In Transcaucasia, a number of archaeological cultures of the late Bronze Age are known, the flourishing of which dates back to the early Bronze Age: the Central Transcaucasian culture with local centers in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, the Kyzyl-Vank culture (see Kyzyl-Vank), the Colchis culture, Urartian culture (see Urartu). In the North Caucasus: Koban culture, Kayakent-Khorochoev culture and Kuban culture. In the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region in the 7th century. BC e. ≈ first centuries AD e. lived by Scythian tribes, who created the most developed culture of the early Western century. on the territory of the USSR. Iron products were found in abundance in settlements and burial mounds of the Scythian period. Signs of metallurgical production were discovered during excavations of a number of Scythian settlements. The largest number of remains of ironworking and blacksmithing were found at the Kamensky settlement (5th-3rd centuries BC) near Nikopol, which was apparently the center of a specialized metallurgical region of ancient Scythia (see Scythians). Iron tools contributed to the widespread development of all kinds of crafts and the spread of arable farming among the local tribes of the Scythian period. The next period after the Scythian period was the early Zh. century. in the steppes of the Black Sea region it is represented by the Sarmatian culture (see Sarmatians), which dominated here from the 2nd century. BC e. up to 4 c. n. e. In previous times, from the 7th century. BC e. Sarmatians (or Sauromatians) lived between the Don and the Urals. In the first centuries A.D. e. one of the Sarmatian tribes - the Alans - began to play a significant historical role and gradually the very name of the Sarmatians was supplanted by the name of the Alans. At the same time, when the Sarmatian tribes dominated the Northern Black Sea region, the cultures of “burial fields” (Zarubinets culture, Chernyakhov culture, etc.) spread in the western regions of the Northern Black Sea region, the Upper and Middle Dnieper and Transnistria. These cultures belonged to agricultural tribes who knew iron metallurgy, among which, according to some scientists, were the ancestors of the Slavs. The tribes living in the central and northern forest regions of the European part of the USSR were familiar with iron metallurgy from the 6th to 5th centuries. BC e. In the 8th-3rd centuries. BC e. In the Kama region, the Ananino culture was widespread, which was characterized by the coexistence of bronze and iron tools, with the undoubted superiority of the latter at the end of it. The Ananyino culture on the Kama was replaced by the Pyanobor culture (end of the 1st millennium BC ≈ 1st half of the 1st millennium AD).

In the Upper Volga region and in the regions of the Volga-Oka interfluve towards the Zh. century. include the settlements of the Dyakovo culture (mid-1st millennium BC ≈ mid-1st millennium AD), and in the territory to the south of the middle reaches of the Oka, to the west of the Volga, in the river basin. Tsna and Moksha, settlements of the Gorodets culture (7th century BC ≈ 5th century AD), belonged to the ancient Finno-Ugric tribes. Numerous 6th century settlements are known in the Upper Dnieper region. BC e. ≈ 7th century n. e., belonging to the ancient Eastern Baltic tribes, later absorbed by the Slavs. The settlements of these same tribes are known in the south-eastern Baltic, where, along with them, there are also cultural remains that belonged to the ancestors of the ancient Estonian (Chud) tribes.

In Southern Siberia and Altai, due to the abundance of copper and tin, the bronze industry developed strongly, successfully competing with iron for a long time. Although iron products apparently appeared already in the early Mayemirian time (Altai; 7th century BC), iron became widespread only in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. (Tagar culture on the Yenisei, Pazyryk mounds in Altai, etc.). Cultures Zh. v. are also represented in other parts of Siberia and the Far East. On the territory of Central Asia and Kazakhstan until the 8th-7th centuries. BC e. tools and weapons were also made of bronze. The appearance of iron products both in agricultural oases and in the pastoral steppe can be dated back to the 7th–6th centuries. BC e. Throughout the 1st millennium BC. e. and in the 1st half of the 1st millennium AD. e. The steppes of Central Asia and Kazakhstan were inhabited by numerous Sak-Usun tribes, in whose culture iron became widespread from the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. In agricultural oases, the time of the appearance of iron coincides with the emergence of the first slave states (Bactria, Sogd, Khorezm).

J.v. on the territory of Western Europe is usually divided into 2 periods ≈ Hallstatt (900≈400 BC), which was also called the early, or first Zh. century, and La Tène (400 BC ≈ beginning of AD) , which is called late, or second. The Hallstatt culture was widespread in the territory of modern Austria, Yugoslavia, Northern Italy, partly Czechoslovakia, where it was created by the ancient Illyrians, and in the territory of modern Germany and the Rhine departments of France, where Celtic tribes lived. Cultures close to the Hallstatt period date back to the same time: the Thracian tribes in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, the Etruscan, Ligurian, Italic and other tribes on the Apennine Peninsula, and the cultures of the beginning of the African century. Iberian Peninsula (Iberians, Turdetans, Lusitanians, etc.) and the late Lusatian culture in the basins of the river. Oder and Vistula. The early Hallstatt period was characterized by the coexistence of bronze and iron tools and weapons and the gradual displacement of bronze. Economically, this era is characterized by the growth of agriculture, and socially, by the collapse of clan relations. In the north of modern East Germany and Germany, Scandinavia, Western France, and England, the Bronze Age still existed at that time. From the beginning of the 5th century. The La Tène culture spreads, characterized by a genuine flourishing of the iron industry. The La Tène culture existed before the Roman conquest of Gaul (1st century BC). The area of distribution of the La Tène culture was the land west from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean along the middle course of the Danube and to the north from it. La Tène culture is associated with the Celtic tribes, who had large fortified cities that were centers of tribes and places of concentration of various crafts. During this era, the Celts gradually created a class slave-owning society. Bronze tools are no longer found, but iron became most widespread in Europe during the period of the Roman conquests. At the beginning of our era, in the areas conquered by Rome, the La Tène culture was replaced by the so-called. provincial Roman culture. Iron spread to northern Europe almost 300 years later than to the south. By the end of the European century. refers to the culture of the Germanic tribes that lived in the territory between the North Sea and the river. the Rhine, Danube and Elbe, as well as in the southern Scandinavian Peninsula, and archaeological cultures, the bearers of which are considered the ancestors of the Slavs. In the northern countries, the complete dominance of iron came only at the beginning of our era.

Lit.: Engels F., The origin of the family, private property and the state, Marx K. and Engels F., Works, 2nd ed., vol. 21; Avdusin D. A., Archeology of the USSR, [M.], 1967; Artsikhovsky A.V., Introduction to Archeology, 3rd ed., M., 1947; World History, vol. 1≈2, M., 1955≈56; Gauthier Yu. V., The Iron Age in Eastern Europe, M. ≈ Leningrad, 1930; Grakov B.N., The oldest finds of iron objects in the European part of the USSR, “Soviet Archaeology”, 1958, ╧ 4; Zagorulsky E.M., Archeology of Belarus, Minsk, 1965; History of the USSR from ancient times to the present day, vol. 1, M., 1966; Kiselev S.V., Ancient history of Southern Siberia, M., 1951; Clark D.G.D., Prehistoric Europe. Economic essay, trans. from English, M., 1953; Krupnov E.I., Ancient history of the North Caucasus, M., 1960; Mongait A.L., Archeology in the USSR, M., 1955; Niederle L., Slavic antiquities, trans. from Czech., M., 1956; Piotrovsky B.B., Archeology of Transcaucasia from ancient times to 1 thousand BC. e., Leningrad, 1949; Tolstov S.P., On the ancient deltas of Oxus and Jaxartes, M., 1962; Shovkoplyas I. G., Archaeological research in Ukraine (1917≈1957), K., 1957; Aitchison L., A history of metals, t. 1≈2, L., 1960; CLark G., World prehistory, Camb., 1961; Forbes R. J., Studies in ancient technology, v. 8, Leiden, 1964; Johannsen O., Geschichte des Eisens, Düsseldorf, 1953; Laet S. J. de, La préhistoire de l▓Europe, P. ≈ Brux., 1967; Moora H., Die Eisenzeit in Lettland bis etwa 500 n. Chr., 1≈2, Tartu (Dorpat), 1929≈38; Piggott S., Ancient Europe, Edinburgh, 1965; Pleiner R., Stare europske kovářství, Prague, 1962; Tulecote R. F., Metallurgy in archaeology, L., 1962.

L. L. Mongait.

Wikipedia

Iron Age

Iron Age- an era in the primitive and Saxa-class history of mankind, characterized by the spread of iron metallurgy and the making of iron tools; lasted from about 1200 BC. e. to 340 AD e.

The idea of three centuries (stone, bronze and iron) existed in the ancient world; it is mentioned in the works of Titus Lucretius Cara. However, the term “Iron Age” itself appeared in scientific works in the mid-19th century, it was introduced by the Danish archaeologist Christian Jurgensen Thomsen.

All countries passed through the period when iron metallurgy began to spread, however, as a rule, only those cultures of primitive tribes that lived outside the possessions of the ancient states formed during the Neolithic and Bronze Age - Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, went to the Iron Age. India, China.

The Iron Age, or Iron Age, is the third of the technological macro-epochs in human history (following the Stone Age and the Eneolithic and Bronze Ages). The term “early Iron Age” is usually used to designate the first stage of the Iron Age, approximately dating from the turn of the 2nd-1st millennium BC. - mid-1st millennium AD (with certain chronological variations for different regions).

The use of the term “Iron Age” has a long history. For the first time, the idea of the existence of the Iron Age in human history was clearly formulated at the end of the 8th - beginning of the 7th century. BC. ancient Greek poet Hesiod. According to his periodization of the historical process (see Introduction), the Iron Age contemporary with Hesiod turns out to be the last and worst stage of human history, at which people have “no respite either night or day from labor and grief” and “only the most severe, grave troubles will remain for people in life" ("Works and Days", pp. 175-201. Translated by V.V. Veresaev). Ovid at the beginning of the 1st century. AD the ethical imperfection of the Iron Age is even more emphasized. The ancient Roman poet calls iron “the worst ore,” during the era of whose dominance “shame fled, and truth, and fidelity; and in their place deceptions and deceit immediately appeared; intrigues, violence and a damned thirst for profit came.” The moral degeneration of people is punished by a worldwide flood that destroys everyone, with the exception of Deucalion and Pyrrha, who revive humanity (“Metamorphoses”, Chapter I, pp. 127-150, 163-415. Translated by S.V. Shervinsky).

As we see, in the assessment of the Iron Age by these ancient authors, the relationship between the cultural and technological aspect and the philosophical and ethical, in particular eschatological, was especially strong. The Iron Age was thought of as a kind of eve of the end of the world. This is quite natural, since the primary concepts of historical periodization finally took shape and were imprinted in written sources precisely at the beginning of the real Iron Age. Consequently, for the first authors who created the periodization of history, the cultural and technological eras preceding the Iron Age (whether mythical, like the Age of Gold and the Age of Heroes, or real, like the Age of Copper) were the ancient or recent past, while the Iron Age itself was modernity, disadvantages which are always visible more clearly and more perceptibly. Therefore, the beginning of the Iron Age was perceived as a certain crisis point in human history. In addition, iron, which defeated bronze primarily in weapons, inevitably became for witnesses of this process a symbol of weapons, violence, and destruction. It is no coincidence that in the same Hesiod, Gaia-Earth, wanting to punish Uranus-Heaven for his atrocities, specially creates a “breed of gray iron”, from which he makes a punishing sickle (“Theogony”, pp. 154-166. Translated by V.V. Veresaev).

Thus, in ancient times, the term “Iron Age” was initially accompanied by an eschatological-tragic interpretation, and this ancient tradition was continued in modern fiction (see, for example, A. Blok’s poem “Retribution”).

However, Ovid’s compatriot Lucretius in the first half of the 1st century. BC. substantiated in the poem “On the Nature of Things” a qualitatively new, exclusively production and technological characteristic of historical eras, including the Iron Age. This idea ultimately formed the basis of the first scientific concept of K.Yu. Thomsen (1836). Following this, the problem of the chronological framework of the Iron Age and its internal division arose, which was discussed in the 19th century. There were long discussions. The final point in this dispute was put by the founder of the typological method, O. Montelius. He noted that it is impossible to indicate a single absolute date for the change from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age throughout the entire territory of the ecumene; The beginning of the Iron Age for each region should be counted from the moment of the predominance of iron and alloys based on it (primarily steel) over other materials as raw materials for weapons and tools.

Montelius's position was confirmed in subsequent archaeological developments, which showed that iron was first used as a rare raw material for jewelry (sometimes in combination with gold), then increasingly for the production of tools and weapons, gradually displacing copper and bronze into the background. Thus, in modern science, an indicator of the onset of the Iron Age in the history of each specific region is the use of iron of ore nature for the manufacture of basic forms of tools and weapons and the widespread spread of iron metallurgy and blacksmithing.

The onset of the Iron Age was preceded by a long preparatory period dating back to previous technological eras.

Even in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages, people sometimes used iron to produce some jewelry and simple tools. However, it was originally meteorite iron, constantly coming from space. Humanity came to the production of iron from ores much later.

Products made from meteoritic iron differ from products made from metallurgical iron (i.e., obtained from ores) primarily in that the former do not contain any slag inclusions, whereas in metallurgical iron such inclusions, at least in small proportions, are inevitable are present as a consequence of the operation of reducing iron from ores. In addition, meteoritic iron usually has a much higher nickel content, which makes such iron much harder. However, this indicator in itself is not absolute, and in modern science there is a serious and as yet unsolved problem of distinguishing between ancient objects made of meteorite and ore iron. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that the nickel content in products made from meteorite raw materials could significantly decrease over time as a result of prolonged corrosion. On the other hand, iron ores with a high nickel content are found on our planet.

Theoretically, it was also possible to use terrestrial native iron - the so-called telluric iron (its appearance, mainly in basalt rocks, is explained by the interaction of iron oxides with organic minerals). However, it is found only in minute grains and veins (except in Greenland, where large accumulations are known), so that the practical use of telluric iron in ancient times was impossible.

Due to the high nickel content (from 5 to 20%, on average 8%), which increases fragility, meteorite raw materials were processed mainly by cold forging - by analogy with stone. However, some items made from meteorite iron were obtained through the use of hot forging.

The earliest iron products date back to the 6th millennium BC. and come from a burial of the Chalcolithic Samarra culture in Northern Iraq. These are 14 small beads or balls, undoubtedly made of meteoric iron, as well as a tetrahedral tool that could be made of ore iron (this is, of course, an exceptional case).

A significantly larger number of objects of meteorite nature (mainly for ritual and ceremonial purposes) date back to the Bronze Age.

The most famous products are ancient Egyptian beads from the late 4th - early 3rd millennium BC. from Hertz and Meduma (pre-dynastic monuments); a dagger with a hilt overlaid with gold, from the royal burial ground of Ur in Sumer (the tomb of Meskalamdug, dating back to the mid-3rd millennium BC); mace from Troy I (2600-2400 BC); pins with gold heads, pendants and some other items from the Aladzha-Heyuk burial ground (2400-2100 BC); the handle of a dagger made in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. in Asia Minor and brought to the area of present-day Slovakia (Hanovce) - finally, things from the tomb of Tutankhamun (about 1375 BC), including: a dagger with an iron blade and a golden handle, an iron “Eye of Horus” attached to a gold bracelet, an amulet in the form of a head stand and 16 thin magico-surgical iron instruments (lancets, incisors, chisels) inserted into a wooden base. In the territory of the former USSR, the first products made from meteorite iron appear first of all in the Southern Urals and on the Sayan-Altai Plateau. These date back to the end of the 4th-3rd millennium BC. all-iron and bimetallic (bronze-iron) tools and decorations made by metallurgists of the Yamnaya (see Section II, Chapter 4) and Afanasyevskaya cultures using cold and hot forging.

Obviously, previous experience with the use of meteorite iron did not in any way influence the discovery of the effect of obtaining iron from ores. Meanwhile, it was the last discovery, i.e. the actual emergence of ferrous metallurgy, which took place back in the Bronze Age, predetermined the change of technological eras, although it did not mean the immediate end of the Bronze Age and the transition to the Iron Age.

The oldest iron products, dating back to 111-11 thousand BC:
1.3- iron daggers with hilts lined with gold (from the tomb of Meskalamdug in Ur and from the Aladzha-Heyuk burial ground in Asia Minor); 2, 4 - an iron adze with a copper grip for the handle and an iron chisel from the burial of the ancient Yamnaya culture (Southern Urals); 5, 6 - a dagger with an iron blade and a gold handle and iron blades inserted into a wooden base (Tutankhamun’s tomb), 7 - a knife with a copper handle and an iron blade from a Catacomb culture burial (Russia, Belgorod region, Gerasimovka village); 8 - iron dagger handle (Slovakia)

Reconstruction of the cheese-making process in the Early Iron Age:
the initial and final phases of the cheese-making process; 2 - obtaining iron from ore in an open, semi-dugout ancient workshop (Mšecké Žehrovice, Czech Republic); 3 - main types of ancients
cheese furnaces (sectional view)

There are two most important stages in the development of iron ore:
Stage 1 - discovery and improvement of a method for recovering iron from ores - the so-called cheese-blowing process.
Stage 2 - the discovery of methods for deliberately producing steel (carburization technology), and subsequently methods for its heat treatment in order to increase the hardness and strength of products.

The cheese-blowing process was carried out in special furnaces into which iron ore and charcoal were loaded, ignited by supplying unheated, “raw” air (hence the name of the process). The coal itself could be produced by first burning firewood stacked in pyramids and covered with turf. First, coal was lit, poured at the bottom of the forge or furnace, then alternate layers of ore and the same coal were loaded on top. As a result of coal combustion, gas was released - carbon monoxide, which, passing through the ore, reduced iron oxides. The cheese-making process, as a rule, did not ensure that the melting temperature of iron was reached (1528-1535 degrees Celsius), but reached a maximum of 1200 degrees, which was quite sufficient for the recovery of iron from ores. It was a kind of “melting” of iron.

Initially, the cheese-making process was carried out in pits lined with refractory clay or stones, then small ovens began to be built from stone or brick, sometimes using clay. Cheese furnaces could operate on natural draft (especially if they were built on hillsides), but with the development of metallurgy, pumping air with bellows through ceramic nozzles was increasingly used. This air entered the open pit from above, and into the furnace through a hole in the lower part of the structure.

The reduced iron was concentrated in a dough-like form at the very bottom of the furnace, forming the so-called forge crust - an iron spongy mass with inclusions of unburned charcoal and an admixture of slag. In more advanced versions of cheese-blowing furnaces, liquid slag was discharged from the hearth through a chute.

It was possible to make products from the furnace, which was removed from the furnace in a hot state, only after the preliminary removal of this slag impurity and the elimination of porosity. Therefore, a direct continuation of the cheese-making process was the hot forging of the forge, which consisted of periodically heating it to “bright white heat” (1400-1450 degrees) and forging it with a percussion tool. The result was a denser mass of metal - the kritsa itself, from which semi-finished products and blanks for the corresponding forge products were made through further forging. Even before processing into a semi-finished product, kritsa could become a unit of exchange, for which it was given a standard size, weight and a shape convenient for storage and transportation - flat-cake, spindle-shaped, bipyramidal, banded. For the same purposes, the semi-finished products themselves could be shaped into tools and weapons.

The discovery of the cheese-blowing process could have occurred as a result of the fact that during the smelting of copper or lead from ores, in addition to copper ore and charcoal, iron-containing rocks, primarily hematite, were loaded into the smelting furnace (as materials for removing “waste rock”). In this regard, already in As a result of the copper smelting process, the first particles of iron could accidentally appear.

Tools and products of the cheese-blowing and forging process:
1-9 - kritsy 10-13 - semi-finished products in the form of an adze, axes and a knife; 14 - stone pestle for crushing ore; 15 - ceramic nozzle for supplying air to the cheese-blowing oven.

The finds of the earliest cheese-making ovens are associated with the territories of Asia Minor and the Eastern Mediterranean. It is no coincidence that the most ancient products made of ore iron originate from these regions.

This is the blade of a dagger from Tell Ashmar (2800 BC) and a dagger with a gold-lined hilt from the above-mentioned tomb of the Aladzha Heyuk burial ground (2400-2100 BC), the iron blade of which, for a long time believed meteorite, spectrographic analysis revealed an extremely low nickel content, which speaks in favor of its ore or mixed nature (a combination of meteorite and ore raw materials).

On the territory of the former USSR, experiments on the production of cryogenic iron took place most intensively in Transcaucasia, the North Caucasus and the Northern Black Sea region.

Such early ore-based iron products as a knife from the first quarter of the 2nd millennium BC have reached us. from a burial of the catacomb culture near the village. Gerasimovka (Belgorod region), knife and awl from the third quarter of the 2nd millennium BC. from the Srubna culture settlements Lyubovka (Kharkov region) and Tatshgyk (Nikolaev region). The discovery of the cheese-blowing process is the most important step in the development of iron by mankind, because while meteorite iron is relatively rare, iron ores are much more widespread than copper and tin ores. At the same time, iron ores often lie very shallow; In some areas, such as the Forest of Dean in the UK or Krivoy Rog in the Ukraine, iron ore could be mined by surface mining. Swamp iron ores are widespread, especially in the northern regions of the temperate climate zone, as well as turf ores, meadow ores, etc.

The cheese-blowing process was constantly developing: the volume of furnaces increased, the blast was improved, etc. However, objects made of cryonic iron were not hard enough until a method for producing steel (an alloy of iron and carbon) was discovered and until they achieved an increase in the hardness and strength of steel products through special heat treatment.

Initially, cementation was mastered - the deliberate carburization of iron. As such, carburization, but accidental, unintentional, leading to the appearance of so-called raw steel, could have occurred earlier during the cheese-blowing process. But then this process became regulated and was carried out separately from the cheese-making process. At first, cementation was carried out by heating an iron product or workpiece for many hours to “red heat” (750-900 degrees) in a wood or bone environment; then they began to use other organic substances containing carbon. In this case, the depth of carburization was directly proportional to the temperature height and duration of heating of the iron. With increasing carbon content, the hardness of the metal increased.

The hardening method was also aimed at increasing hardness, which consisted of sharply cooling a steel object preheated to “red heat” in water, snow, olive oil or some other liquid.

Most likely, the hardening process, like carburization, was discovered by accident, and its physical essence, naturally, remained a mystery to the ancient blacksmiths, which is why we often encounter in written sources very fantastic explanations of the reasons for the increase in the hardness of iron products during hardening. For example, the chronicle of the 9th century. BC. from the temple of Balgala in Asia Minor prescribes the following method of hardening: “It is necessary to heat the dagger until it glows like the sun rising in the desert, then cool it to the color of royal purple, immersing it in the body of a muscular slave... The strength of the slave, passing into the dagger... imparts to the metal hardness". The famous fragment from the Odyssey, probably created in the 8th century, dates back to an equally ancient time. BC: here the burning out of the Cyclops’ eye with the “hot point” of an olive stake (“Odyssey”, Canto IX, pp. 375-395. Translated by V.A. Zhukovsky) is compared to a blacksmith immersing a red-hot steel ax or poleaxe in cold water , and it is no coincidence that Homer uses the same verb to describe the hardening process that denoted medical and magical actions - obviously, the mechanisms of these phenomena were equally mysterious for the Greeks of that time

However, hardened steel had a certain brittleness. In this regard, ancient craftsmen, trying to increase the strength of a steel product, improved heat treatment; in a number of cases they used an operation opposite to hardening - thermal tempering, i.e. heating the product only to the lower threshold of “red heat”, at which the structure is transformed - to a temperature not exceeding 727 degrees. As a result, the hardness decreased somewhat, but the strength of the product increased.

In general, mastering the operations of carburization and heat treatment is a long and very complex process. Most researchers believe that the area where the earliest discovery of these operations (as well as the cheese-making process itself) and where their improvement was most rapid was Asia Minor, and above all the area inhabited by the Hittites and the tribes associated with them, especially the Antitaurus Mountains, where already in the last quarter of the 2nd millennium BC. made high-quality steel products.

It was the improvement of the technology of processing critical iron and the production of steel that finally solved the problem of competition between iron and bronze. Along with this, the widespread occurrence and relative ease of mining of iron ores played a significant role in the change from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age.

In addition, for some regions of the ecumene, devoid of deposits of non-ferrous metal ores, an additional factor in the development of ferrous metallurgy was the fact that, for various reasons, the traditional connections of these regions with ore sources that provided non-ferrous metallurgy were broken.

THE ADVANCE OF THE IRON AGE: CHRONOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE PROCESS, MAIN CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL CONSEQUENCES

The advanced region in the development of iron, where the Iron Age began in the last quarter of the 2nd millennium BC, was, as already mentioned, Asia Minor (the region of the Hittite kingdom), as well as the Eastern Mediterranean and Transcaucasia, closely connected with it.

It is no coincidence that the first indisputable written evidence of the production and use of red iron and steel came to us precisely from texts that were in one way or another connected with the Hittites.

From the texts of their predecessors, the Hutts, translated by the Hittites, it follows that the Hutts already knew iron well, which had more of a cult-ritual value for them than an everyday value. However, in these Hattian and ancient Hittite texts (“Anitta’s text” of the 18th century BC) we can talk about products made of meteorite rather than ore iron.

The earliest undoubted written references to products made of ore (“brick”) iron appear in Hittite cuneiform tablets of the 15th-13th centuries. BC, in particular in the message of the Hittite king to Pharaoh Ramses II (late XIV - early XIII centuries BC) with a message about sending the latter a ship loaded with iron. These are also cuneiform tablets from the kingdom of Mitanni, neighboring the Hittites, addressed to the Egyptians and therefore included in the famous “Amarna Archives” of the second half of the 15th - early 14th centuries. BC. - correspondence between the pharaohs of the 18th dynasty and the rulers of the countries of Western Asia. It is noteworthy that in the Hittite message to the Assyrian king of the 13th century. BC. the term “good iron” appears, meaning steel. All this is confirmed by the finds of a significant amount of ore-based iron products at the monuments of the New Hittite kingdom of the 14th-12th centuries. BC, as well as steel products in Palestine already in the 12th century. BC. and in Cyprus in the 10th century. BC.

Under the influence of Asia Minor and the Eastern Mediterranean at the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The Iron Age begins in Mesopotamia and Iran.

Thus, during excavations of the palace of the Assyrian king Sargon II in Khorsabad (the last quarter of the 8th century BC), about 160 tons of iron were discovered, mainly in the form of bipyramidal and spindle-shaped commodity krits, probably offerings from subject territories.

From Iran, ferrous metallurgy spread to India, where the Iron Age dates back to the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. There is a sufficient amount of written evidence about the development of iron in India (both Indian, starting with the Rig Veda, and later non-Indian, in particular ancient Greek).

Under the influence of Iran and India in the 8th century. BC. The Iron Age begins in Central Asia. To the north, in the steppes of Asia, the Iron Age begins no earlier than the 6th-5th centuries. BC.
In China, the development of ferrous metallurgy proceeded rather separately. Due to the highest level of local bronze foundry production, which provided China with high-quality metal products, the era
iron begins here no earlier than the middle of the 1st millennium BC. At the same time, written sources (“Shijing” of the 8th century BC, comments on Confucius of the 6th century BC) record an earlier acquaintance of the Chinese with iron. And yet for the first half of the 1st millennium BC. Excavations have revealed only a small number of iron ore objects of Chinese origin. A significant increase in the quantity, range and area of local iron and steel products began here precisely from the middle of the 1st millennium BC. Moreover, already in the second half of the 1st millennium BC. Chinese craftsmen became the first in the world to purposefully produce cast iron (an alloy based on iron with a higher carbon content than steel) and, using its fusibility, to produce most products not by forging, but by casting.

Researchers admit that cast iron, like iron, could initially have been formed accidentally when copper was smelted from ores in a smelting furnace under certain conditions. And although this phenomenon probably did not occur only in China, only this ancient civilization, based on relevant observations, came to the deliberate production of cast iron. Following this, according to some scholars, the practice of producing malleable iron and steel first arose in ancient China by reducing the carbon content of cast iron by heating it and leaving it in the open air. At the same time, steel in China was also produced by carburizing iron.

In Korea, the Iron Age began in the second half of the 1st millennium BC, and in Japan - in the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC. In Indochina and Indonesia, the Iron Age begins at the turn of the era.

Turning to Europe, we note that ironmaking skills spread through the Greek cities of Asia Minor at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. to the Aegean Islands and European Greece, where the Iron Age begins around the 10th century. BC. Since this time, commercial krits - spindle-shaped and in the form of rods - have been spreading in Greece, and the dead are buried, as a rule, with iron swords. By the end of the 6th century. BC. Ancient Greek craftsmen already used such important iron tools as articulated tongs, a bow saw, and by the end of the 4th century. BC. - iron spring scissors and a hinged compass. The development of iron is also clearly reflected in ancient Greek texts: for example, in the Iliad and Odyssey, Homer mentions various iron products and the operation of hardening steel; Hesiod in his Theogony metaphorically characterizes the simplest method of extracting iron from ores in a pit; Aristotle in Meteorology briefly describes the cheese-blowing process and the deliberate production of steel.

In the rest of Europe outside the Greek civilization, the Iron Age begins later: in Western and Central Europe - in the 8th-7th centuries. BC, in Southwestern Europe - in the 7th-6th centuries. BC, in Britain - in the V-IV centuries. BC, in Northern Europe - at the turn of the era.

Moving on to Eastern Europe, it should be noted that in those regions that were leaders in metallurgical terms - in the Northern Black Sea region, the Northern Caucasus and the Volga-Kama region - the period of primary development of iron ended in the 9th-8th centuries. BC, which manifested itself in the spread of bimetallic objects, in particular daggers and swords, the handles of which were cast from bronze according to individual models, and the blades were made of iron. They became the prototypes for subsequent all-iron daggers and swords. During the same period, along with the Eastern European tradition based on the use of iron and raw steel, products produced within the framework of the Transcaucasian tradition, which involved the deliberate production of steel (cementation of an iron product or workpiece), penetrated into these regions.

And yet, a significant quantitative increase in iron products in Eastern Europe is associated with the 8th-7th centuries. BC, when the Iron Age actually begins here. The technology for manufacturing the first ore-based iron products, previously limited to the operations of primitive hot forging and simple forge welding, was now enriched with the skills of form forging (using special crimpers and dies) and forge welding of several plates overlapping or folded together.

The leading areas of iron processing during this period in the territory of the former USSR were the Ciscaucasia and Transcaucasia, the forest-steppe Dnieper region and the Volga-Kama region. The gradual beginning of the Iron Age in the forest-steppe and forest zones of Eastern Europe, excluding deep taiga and tundra territories, can also be attributed to this time.

On the territory of the Urals and Siberia, the Iron Age begins first in the steppe, forest-steppe and mountain-forest regions - within the so-called Scythian-Siberian cultural-historical region and in the zone of the Itkul culture. In the taiga regions of Siberia and the Far East in the middle - second half of the 1st millennium BC. The Bronze Age is actually still ongoing, but the corresponding monuments are closely interconnected with the cultures of the early Iron Age (excluding the northern part of the taiga and tundra).

In Africa, the Iron Age was first established in the area of the Mediterranean coast (in the 6th century BC), and primarily in Egypt - during the 26th dynasty (663-525 BC); however, there is an opinion that the Iron Age in Egypt began in the 9th century. BC. In addition, in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. The Iron Age begins in Nubia and Sudan (Meroitic, or Kushite, kingdom), as well as in a number of areas of Western and Central Africa (in particular, in the zone of the so-called Nok culture in Nigeria), at the turn of eras - in East Africa, closer to the middle 1st millennium AD - in South Africa.

Finally, no earlier than the middle of the 2nd millennium AD, with the arrival of Europeans, the Iron Age began in most of the rest of Africa, as well as in America, Australia and the Pacific Islands.

This is the approximate chronology of the onset of the Iron Age in various parts of the ecumene. The final boundary of the Early Iron Age and, accordingly, the beginning of the Late Iron Age are usually conventionally associated with the collapse of ancient civilization and the onset of the Middle Ages.

There are other versions on this matter. Thus, in Western European and domestic archeology back in the 19th and early 20th centuries. there was a concept of the Middle Iron Age as a transitional period from early to late, and the line between the early and middle Iron Ages was synchronized with the turn of eras and was largely determined by the spread of provincial Roman culture in Western Europe. Although the concept of the "Middle Iron Age" has since fallen into disuse, there is still a tradition in Western European scholarship of leaving the Early Iron Age outside the Common Era.

There are different opinions regarding the end of the Iron Age. It is assumed that this era lasted until the industrial revolution or even continues to this day, because even now iron-based alloys - steel and cast iron - are one of the main structural materials.

With the advent of the Iron Age, agriculture improved, because the use of iron tools made it easier to cultivate the land, made it possible to clear large forest areas for crops, and develop an irrigation system. The processing of wood and stone is improving, as a result of which the construction industry is developing; The extraction of copper ore is also easier. The use of iron leads to the improvement of offensive and defensive weapons, horse equipment, and wheeled vehicles. The development of production and transport leads to the expansion of trade relations, as a result of which coinage appears. In many pre-class societies, social inequality is increasing, and as a result, new centers of statehood are emerging. These are the most significant changes in the world historical and cultural situation associated with the development of iron.

German diplomat, orientalist and archaeologist in the Middle East, discoverer of the Tel Halaf hill settlement and Halaf culture.

1929 Was born Vladimir Antonovich Oborin- Soviet and Russian archaeologist, specialist in ancient and medieval history of the Urals.

Discoveries

1799 French sappers discovered during Napoleon's Egyptian expedition Rosetta Stone.

The Iron Age is a period in human history characterized by the spread of iron processing and smelting, and the production of iron tools and weapons. The Iron Age gave way to the Bronze Age at the beginning of the first millennium BC.

The idea of three centuries: stone, bronze and iron arose in ancient times. This is well described by Titus Lucretius Cara in his philosophical poem “On the Nature of Things,” in which the progress of mankind is seen in the development of metallurgy. The term Iron Age was coined in the 19th century by the Danish archaeologist K.J. Thomsen.

Although iron is the most common metal, it was late mastered by mankind, due to the fact that in nature, in its pure form, iron is difficult to distinguish from other minerals, in addition, iron has a higher melting point than bronze. Before the discovery of methods for producing steel from iron and its heat treatment, iron was inferior in strength and anti-corrosion qualities to bronze.

Iron was originally used to make jewelry and was smelted from meteorites. The first iron products were discovered in Egypt and Northern Iraq; they were dated to the third millennium BC. According to one of the most probable hypotheses, the smelting of iron from ores was discovered by the Khalib tribe who lived in Asia Minor in the 15th century BC. However, iron remained a very valuable and rare metal for a very long time.

The rapid spread of iron and its displacement of bronze and stone as a material for the production of tools was facilitated by: firstly, the widespread occurrence of iron in nature and its lower cost compared to bronze; secondly, the discovery of methods for producing steel made iron tools better than bronze ones.

The Iron Age came to regions of the world at different times. Initially in the 12th-11th centuries BC, iron production spread to Asia Minor, the Middle East, Mesopotamia, Iran, Transcaucasia and India. In the 9th-7th centuries BC, the production of iron tools spread among the primitive tribes of Europe, starting from the 8th-7th century BC. The production of iron tools spreads to the European part of Russia. In China and the Far East, the Iron Age begins in the 8th century BC. In Egypt and North Africa, the production of iron tools spread in the 7th and 6th centuries BC.

In the 2nd century. BC e. The Iron Age came to the tribes inhabiting Central Africa. Some primitive tribes of Central and Southern Africa moved from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, bypassing the Bronze Age. America, Australia, New Zealand and Oceania saw iron (except meteorite) only in the 16th-17th centuries AD when representatives of European civilization appeared in these areas.

The spread of iron tools led to a technical revolution in human society. The power of man in his fight against the elements increased, the impact of people on nature increased, the introduction of iron tools made the work of farmers easier, it became possible to clear large forest areas for fields, contributed to the improvement of irrigation structures and generally improved the technology of land cultivation. The technology of processing wood and stone is being improved for the construction of houses, defensive structures and vehicles (ships, chariots, carts, etc.). Military affairs have improved. Craftsmen received more advanced tools, which contributed to the improvement and acceleration of the development of crafts. Trade relations expanded, the decomposition of the primitive communal system accelerated, which contributed to the acceleration of the transition to a class-slave society.

Due to the fact that iron is still an important material in the production of tools, the modern period of history is included in the Iron Age.

Iron Age- era in primitive And early class human history, characterized by the spread metallurgy gland and the manufacture of iron tools; lasted from about 1200 BC e. to 340 AD e.

The concept of three centuries ( stone, bronze and iron) existed back in ancient world, it is mentioned in works Tita Lucretia Cara. However, the term “Iron Age” itself appeared in scientific works in the middle of the 19th century, it was introduced by a Danish archaeologist Christian Jurgensen Thomsen .

All countries passed through the period when iron metallurgy began to spread, but, as a rule, only those cultures of primitive tribes that lived outside the possessions of the ancient states formed during Neolithic and Bronze Age - Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, India, China .

History of the concept

The term “Iron Age” was first coined by the Danish archaeologist Christian Thomsen. He was the director National Museum of Denmark and all exhibits were divided according to material into stone, bronze and iron. This system did not immediately gain recognition, but gradually other scientists adopted it. Thomsen's classification was subsequently developed by his student, Jens Worso .

Subsequently, the periodization system was reworked by the director of the department of prehistoric antiquities Museum of National Antiquities in Saint-Germain-en-LayeGabriel de Mortillier. He identified two periods - prehistoric (pre-literate) and historical (written). The scientist divided the first of them into the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages. This system was later refined by other scientists. .

Later, research was carried out, which resulted in the initial classification and dating of Iron Age monuments. In Western Europe they did this Moritz Goernes (Austria), Oscar Montelius And Nils Oberg (Sweden), Otto Tischler And Paul Reinecke (Germany), Joseph Dechelet (France), Yosef Pich(Czech) Yuzew Kostrzewski (Poland); in Eastern Europe, research was carried out by many Russian and Soviet archaeologists, in particular Vasily Alekseevich Gorodtsov, Alexander Andreevich Spitsyn, Yuri Vladimirovich Gauthier, Pyotr Nikolaevich Tretyakov, Alexey Petrovich Smirnov, Harry Albertovich Moora, Mikhail Illarionovich Artamonov, Boris Nikolaevich Grakov; in Siberia - Sergey Alexandrovich Teploukhov, Sergey Vladimirovich Kiselev, Sergei Ivanovich Rudenko; in the Caucasus - Boris Alekseevich Kuftin, Alexander Alexandrovich Jessen, Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky, Evgeny Ignatievich Krupnov; in Central Asia - Sergei Pavlovich Tolstov, Alexander Natanovich Bernshtam, Alexey Ivanovich Terenozhkin .

Periodization

Compared with stone And Bronze Ages, the duration of the Iron Age is short. Its beginning is usually attributed to the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. (IX-VII centuries BC) - it was at this time that independent iron smelting began to develop among the primitive tribes of Europe and Asia . A number of researchers date the end of the Iron Age to the 1st century BC. e. - to the moment when Roman historians there are reports of tribes in Europe .

At the same time, iron is still one of the most important materials. Because of this, archaeologists often use the term “early Iron Age” to periodize the history of the primitive world. At the same time, for the history of Europe, the term “early Iron Age” is used only for the initial stage - the so-called Hallstatt culture .

Comparison of bronze and iron

Native iron is rare in nature. Its smelting from ore is a rather labor-intensive task, since iron has a higher melting point than bronze, and its casting qualities are also worse. In addition, iron is inferior to bronze in hardness and corrosion resistance. This led to the fact that for quite a long time iron was used very little .

Bronze tools are more durable than iron ones, and their production does not require as high a temperature as smelting iron. Therefore, most experts believe that the transition from bronze to iron was not associated with the advantages of tools made of iron, but primarily with the fact that the mass production of bronze tools at the end of the Bronze Age quickly led to the depletion of deposits tin, necessary for the manufacture of bronze and widespread in nature, is noticeably less than copper.

Iron ores found in nature much more often than copper and tin. Most common brown iron ores although they are considered a relatively low-grade ore. As a result, the extraction of iron ore in ancient times turned out to be quite a profitable activity; iron turned out to be more accessible than copper and comparable in production cost to copper-based alloys. The skills and technologies of bronze casting created the prerequisites for the development of iron metallurgy. Finally, the discovery of methods for carbonizing and hardening iron (as a result of which it turned into steel) significantly increased the mechanical characteristics of products made from it, which ultimately led to the almost complete displacement of bronze and stone tools (the use of which continued into the Bronze Age) from use. The list of tools has also expanded noticeably, their variety has become wider, which in turn has created new opportunities for developing the economy and increasing labor productivity .

Iron (primarily meteorite) was known already in IV millennium BC e. Meteoric iron, thanks to the content nickel, when cold forged it had high hardness, but such iron was rare. As a result, for a long time iron was practically not used .

English archaeologist Anthony Snodgrass identified three stages in the development of iron technology. In the beginning, iron is rare and a luxury item. At the next stage, iron is already used to make tools, but bronze tools are also mainly used. At the last stage, iron tools begin to prevail over all others. .

The earliest finds of objects made from meteorite iron are known in Iran (VI-IV millennium BC), Iraq (V millennium BC) and Egypt (IV millennium BC). In Mesopotamia, the first iron objects date back to the 3rd millennium BC. e. Iron objects were also found in Yamnaya culture on Southern Urals(III millennium BC) and in Afanasyevskaya culture V Southern Siberia(III millennium BC). In addition, iron objects were made Eskimos And Indians northwest North America and in China period Zhou dynasty .

It is likely that ore iron was originally obtained by accident - iron ore was used as a flux in the production of bronze, resulting in the formation of pure iron. However, its quantity was very small. Later they learned to use meteorite iron, which was considered a gift from the gods. Initially, iron was very expensive and was used mainly for making ritual objects .

Later, the first method of extracting iron from ore appeared - cheese-making process, sometimes also called iron smelting. The use of this method became possible with the invention of the cheese furnace, into which cold air was supplied. Initially, iron ore was placed in pits covered at the top; later, clay ovens were used. A temperature of 900 °C was reached in the forge, at which iron was reduced from oxide with the help of carbon monoxide, the source of which was charcoal. The result was the so-called bloom- a porous piece of iron impregnated with slag. Forging was used to remove slag. Despite its shortcomings, this process has long remained the main method of obtaining iron. .

For the first time they learned to process iron in the northern regions Anatolia. According to established opinion, the tribes subordinated to Russia were the first to master the technology of producing iron. Hittites .

The ancient Greek tradition considered the people to be the discoverers of iron Khalib who lived in the eastern part Asia Minor on the south bank Black Sea, for which the stable expression “father of iron” was used in the literature, and the very name of steel in Greek (Χάλυβας) comes precisely from the ethnonym .

Aristotle left a description of the Khalib method of obtaining iron: the Khalibs washed river sand several times, added some kind of fireproofing agent and melted in furnaces of a special design; The metal thus obtained had a silvery color and was stainless. Magnite sands, reserves of which are found along the entire coast, were used as raw materials for iron smelting. Black Sea- these magnetite sands consist of a mixture of small grains magnetite, titanium-magnetite, ilmenite and fragments of other rocks, so that the steel smelted by the Khalibs was doped, and apparently had high qualities. This unique method of obtaining iron not from ore suggests that the Khalibs, rather, discovered iron as a technological material, but not a method for its widespread industrial production. Apparently, their discovery served as an impetus for the further development of iron metallurgy, including from ore mined in mines. Clement of Alexandria in his encyclopedic work “Stromata” (chapter 21) he mentions that according to Greek legends, iron was discovered on Mt. Ide- that was the name of the mountain range near Troy, opposite the island Lesbos(V " Iliad» it is referred to as Mount Ida, from which Zeus watched battle between the Greeks and the Trojans).

IN Hittite In texts, iron is denoted by the word par-zi-lum(cf. lat. ferrum And rus. iron), and iron products were used by the Hittites from about the beginning of the second millennium BC. For example, in the text of the Hittite king Anitta(c. 1800 BC) states:

When to the city Purushandu I went on a campaign, a man from the city of Puruskhanda came to bow to me (...?), and he presented me with 1 iron throne and 1 iron scepter (?) as a sign of submission (?) .

That the iron is really open in Hittites is confirmed by the Greek name of the steel Χάλυβας, and by the fact that in the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun(c. 1350 BC) one of the first iron daggers was found, clearly given to him by the Hittites, and that already in Bible, V Old Testament, V Book of Judges of Israel(c. 1200 BC) describes the use Philistines And Canaanites whole iron chariots. A letter from the king of the Hets has also been preserved. Hattussili III(1250 BC) to the king Assyria Shalmanesar I, which reports that the Hittites smelted iron. The Hittites kept the technology of iron production secret for a long time. Their production of iron products was not very large, but they allowed the Hittites to sell them to neighboring countries. Later, iron technology gradually spread to other countries .

If initially iron was a very expensive material (in documents dating from the 19th-18th centuries BC, discovered in the ruins of an Assyrian settlement Kültepe in Central Anatolia, it is mentioned that the cost of iron is 8 times more expensive than gold), then with the discovery of a method for obtaining iron from ore, its value drops. So in those found during excavations of the palace of the Assyrian king Sargon tablets say that at the founding of the palace (1714 BC) gifts were presented, including metals, while iron is no longer mentioned as an expensive metal, although during excavations a warehouse of iron crits was discovered .

Vast expanses of the forest zone in the Bronze Age lagged behind the southern regions in socio-economic development, but after the smelting of iron from local ores began there, agricultural technology began to improve, and iron ploughshare, suitable for plowing heavy forest soils, and the inhabitants of the forest zone switched to agriculture. As a result, many forests in Western Europe disappeared during the Iron Age. But even in regions where agriculture arose earlier, the introduction of iron contributed to the improvement of irrigation systems: irrigation structures were improved, water-lifting structures were improved (in particular, in the middle of the 1st millennium BC it began to be used water wheel). This led to increased field productivity .

The development of various crafts also accelerated significantly, primarily blacksmithing, weapons, the creation of transport (ships, chariots), mining, stone and wood processing. As a result, it began to develop intensively seafaring, construction of buildings and creation of roads, and military equipment was improved. Trade also developed, and in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. metal coins came into use .

Spread of iron metallurgy And

The process of spreading iron metallurgy was not very fast. In different countries, iron smelting technology appeared at different times. The speed of spread depended on many factors, primarily the supply of raw materials and the nature of cultural and trade factors .

First of all, iron metallurgy spread to Western Asia, India and in Southern Europe, where iron tools were widely used already at the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. e. IN Northern Europe iron processing technology spread only from the 7th century BC. e., in Egypt- in the VI century BC. e., in countries Far East- in the 7th-5th centuries BC. e.

In the 13th century BC. e. The rate of spread of iron production technology is increasing. By the 12th century BC. e. they knew how to obtain iron in Syria and Palestine, and by the 9th century BC. e. bronze was practically replaced by iron, and trade in it was carried out everywhere. The main route for iron export was through the valley Ephrata and the mountains in Northern Syria to the south, and through the Pontic colonies to the north. This path was called the Iron Road .

On Cyprus iron products were known back in the 19th century BC. e., however, our own technology for obtaining iron Aegean Islands appears only at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. Around XII-XI centuries BC. e. in the Western Mediterranean (Cyprus or Palestine) a method of carburizing and hardening iron was invented, as a result of which iron began to compete with bronze here .

Another center for iron production was Transcaucasia. The first iron products in it date back to the 15th-14th centuries BC. e., but their widespread use dates back to the 9th century BC. e., they were widely used in Urartu .

Iron spread to Greece in the 9th-6th centuries BC. e. It is mentioned several times in Homeric epic(mostly in Odyssey), although together with bronze, which was still widely used at that time. Iron production technology may have come to Europe either through Greece - Balkans, either through Greece - Italy - the northern Balkans, or through the Caucasus - Southern Russia - the Carpathian Basin. In the Western Balkans and the Lower Danube region, rare iron objects appeared in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e., and by the 8th century BC. e. they have spread widely .

In the 7th century BC. e. iron technology penetrates northern Europe. Already in the 5th century BC. e. she was well mastered Celts, who learned to combine iron and steel in one object, which made it possible to obtain plates that can be easily processed with sharply sharpened edges. The Celts taught technology and Romans. In Scandinavia, iron replaced bronze only at the beginning of the century. e., in Britain - by the 5th century BC. e. A Germans, as reported Tacitus, little iron was used .

In Eastern Europe, iron production technology was mastered in the 8th century BC. e., and among the finds there are complex bimetallic objects. They also mastered the process of cementation and steel production quite early here. .

In Siberia, rich in copper and tin ores, the Iron Age came later than in Europe. In Western Siberia, the use of iron objects began in the 8th-5th centuries BC. e., but only in the 3rd century BC. e. iron began to prevail. At the same time, the Iron Age began and Altai And Minusinsk Basin, and in the forests of Western Siberia it began only at the end of the 1st millennium BC. e.

IN South-East Asia iron appears in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e., and began to be widely used in the second half of the millennium .

In China, the first bimetallic objects containing meteorite iron appeared in the 2nd millennium BC. e., but iron production developed by the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. At the same time, in China they learned quite early to obtain high temperatures in a forge and make castings into molds, obtaining cast iron .

IN Africa According to some researchers, iron technology developed independently. According to another version, it was initially borrowed, but then developed independently. Here they learned how to produce steel very early, and also invented a high cylindrical forge, and they began to heat the air supplied to it. In Nubia, Sudan, and Libya, the first iron objects are known from around the 6th century BC. e. The Iron Age in Africa began in the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e., and in some regions - immediately after the Stone Age. So in South Africa, in the Great Savannah River Basin Congo, which contains rich deposits of copper ore, copper production was developed later than iron production, and copper was used only for jewelry, and tools were made only from iron .

IN America The development of metallurgy had its own characteristics. There were several centers where they learned to process non-ferrous metals early on. So in Andes there were rich deposits of metals, they were the first to master production gold, and this happened simultaneously with the development of production ceramics. From the 18th century BC. e. and until the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. products made of gold and silver. IN Peru an alloy of copper and silver was discovered ( tumbaga), which was greatly appreciated. In Mesoamerica, metals appeared only in the 1st millennium BC. e., and metallurgy was mastered by the tribes Mayan only in the 7th-8th centuries AD. e.

In North America, copper was first used, and in the 1st millennium BC. e. iron appeared. Residents in the western regions were the first to use it Bering Sea culture. At first, meteorite iron was used, and then they learned how to obtain screaming iron .

IN Australia iron production technology appeared only in the era Great geographical discoveries .

Iron Age cultures of Eurasia

Central European cultures of the early Iron Age: - Nordic cultures, - Jastorf culture, - culture Harpstedt-Nienburg, - La Tène culture, - Lusatian culture, - house-urn culture, - Dnieper-Dvina culture, - Pomeranian culture tours, - Milograd culture, - proto- Estonians.

In the 1st millennium BC. e., according to the classification M. B. Shchukina, the following “cultural worlds” existed:

world ancient civilizations, covering Mediterranean and also including Hellenized culture East;

world Celts Western Europe, represented by Hallstatt And La Tène archaeological cultures;

world of cultures Prykarpattya created Thracians.

world latenized cultures of Central and Northern Europe, which are characterized by “ burial fields"with the dominance of corpse burning in funeral practice and ceramics with a polished-ratchet (specially roughened) surface. This world belongs Jastorf culture northern Germany, Pomeranian culture, Przeworsk culture And Oksyv culture Poland, Zarubintsy culture Ukraine and Belarus, Poyanesti-Lukashevo culture in Moldova and Romania, as well as a number of other smaller crops.

The world of forest crops of North-Eastern Europe to the east Western Bug, including West Baltic mound culture And "Hatched Pottery" culture parts of Lithuania and Belarus, as well as Milogradskaya, Dnieper-Dvina, And Srednetushemlinskaya culture (proto Balts).

The world of forest cultures of Eastern Europe, represented by cultures with reticulate and textile ceramics, is primarily Dyakovskaya And Gorodetskaya culture (proto Finns).

World of forest crops Prikamye And Cisurals, uniting Ananyinskaya And Pyanoborskaya culture (proto Permians).

The world of steppe nomadic cultures, for example, Pazyryk culture.

The world of forest cultures of the Urals and Western Siberia (proto Ugrians and proto Samoyeds).

The world of forest-steppe cultures of Western Siberia (southern proto- Ugrians).

These worlds remained more or less stable until the era Great Migration.

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