IRON AGE

The Iron Age was the archaeological period following the bronze age in which tools and weapons were primarily produced from iron (Fe). In Eurasia, the Iron Age began ca 1000 BC and persisted until the roman period, although iron continued to be the primary tool-making material up to recent times. Dating of events in the earlier part of the Iron Age can be problematical due to the presence of a radiocarbon plateau (sometimes called the Hallstatt Plateau) at ca 800–400 BC. forest clearance was widespread in the Iron Age due to the requirement of wood for fuel and increasing agricultural activity in the larger, more permanent settlements. In some areas of Central Europe, these activities favoured faster-growing forest taxa such as Quercus (oak) and Carpinus betulus (hornbeam). In Scandinavia, the species composition of present-day grassland carries a signal of Iron Age landuse change. In addition, the construction of hillforts and earthworks during the Iron Age required large quantities of timber and left scars on the landscape that remain visible in the modern age. Outside of Eurasia, the Iron Age is generally thought to have occurred much later. Iron appeared in the Americas only after European settlement. However, recent geochemical analyses of marine sediments suggest that climate was not the sole driver of the so-called African rain forest crisis around 3,000 years ago, when mature rain forest was replaced in West Central Africa by a lighter type of forest with more pioneer trees. This vegetation disturbance appears to have been associated with the migration of Bantu-speaking farmers together with their agricultural and iron-smelting technologies.

[See alsothree-age system]