Category:Early Iron Age

Depending on location, the Iron Age gradually superseded the Bronze Age around the beginning of the first millennium BCE, give or take a century or two. Iron replaced bronze as the primary component in the manufacture of tools and weapons. The length of the Iron Age in any given region is a matter of debate because usage of the label is subject to its replacement by cultural and political classifications. For example, although the Aegean world of the 5th century BCE was part of the Iron Age, it is remembered as the Classical period of antiquity because its cultural achievements are seen to have outweighed its industry, but the predominance of iron in industry continued long after, say, the Fall of Rome. In very broad terms, and with inevitable cutover, the Early Iron Age in the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East tentatively spans the period from c. 1150 BCE to c. 800 BCE.