The beginning of the Iron Age in history. General characteristics of the Iron Age

24.09.2019

archaeological era from which the use of objects made from iron ore begins. The earliest iron-making furnaces, dating back to the 1st half. II millennium BC discovered in Western Georgia. In Eastern Europe and the Eurasian steppe and forest-steppe, the beginning of the era coincides with the time of the formation of early nomadic formations of the Scythian and Saka types (approximately VIII-VII centuries BC). In Africa it came immediately after the Stone Age (there is no Bronze Age). In America, the beginning of the Iron Age is associated with European colonization. It began in Asia and Europe almost simultaneously. Often, only the first stage of the Iron Age is called the Early Iron Age, the boundary of which is the final stages of the era of the Great Migration of Peoples (IV-VI centuries AD). In general, the Iron Age includes the entire Middle Ages, and based on the definition, this era continues to this day.

The discovery of iron and the invention of the metallurgical process was quite complex. If copper and tin are found in nature in their pure form, then iron is found only in chemical compounds, mainly with oxygen, as well as with other elements. No matter how long you keep iron ore in the fire, it will not melt, and this path of “accidental” discovery, possible for copper, tin and some other metals, is excluded for iron. Brown, loose stone, such as iron ore, was not suitable for making tools by beating. Finally, even reduced iron melts at a very high temperature - more than 1500 degrees. All this is an almost insurmountable obstacle to a more or less satisfactory hypothesis of the history of the discovery of iron.

There is no doubt that the discovery of iron was prepared by several millennia of development of copper metallurgy. Particularly important was the invention of bellows for blowing air into smelting furnaces. Such bellows were used in non-ferrous metallurgy, increasing the flow of oxygen into the forge, which not only increased the temperature in it, but also created conditions for successful chemical reaction metal recovery. A metallurgical furnace, even a primitive one, is a kind of chemical retort in which not so much physical as chemical processes occur. Such a stove was made of stone and coated with clay (or it was made of clay alone) on a massive clay or stone base. The thickness of the furnace walls reached 20 cm. The height of the furnace shaft was about 1 m. Its diameter was the same. In the front wall of the furnace at the bottom level there was a hole through which the coal loaded into the shaft was set on fire, and through it the kritsa was taken out. Archaeologists use the Old Russian name for a furnace for “cooking” iron - “domnitsa”. The process itself is called cheese making. This term emphasizes the importance of blowing air into a furnace filled with iron ore and coal.

At cheese-making process more than half of the iron was lost in slag, which led to the abandonment of this method at the end of the Middle Ages. However, for almost three thousand years this method was the only way to obtain iron.

Unlike bronze objects, iron objects could not be made by casting; they were forged. The forging process at the time of the discovery of iron metallurgy had thousand-year history. They forged on a metal stand - an anvil. A piece of iron was first heated in a forge, and then the blacksmith, holding it with tongs on an anvil, hit the place with a small hammer-handle, where his assistant then struck the iron, hitting the iron with a heavy hammer-sledgehammer.

Iron is mentioned for the first time in correspondence Egyptian pharaoh with the Hittite king, preserved in the archives of the 14th century. BC e. in Amarna (Egypt). From this time, small iron products have reached us in Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Aegean world.

For some time, iron was a very expensive material, used to make jewelry and ceremonial weapons. In particular, a gold bracelet with iron inlay and a whole series of iron objects were found in the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Iron inlays are also known in other places.

On the territory of the USSR, iron first appeared in Transcaucasia.

Iron things began to quickly replace bronze ones, since iron, unlike copper and tin, is found almost everywhere. Iron ores occur both in mountainous regions and in swamps, not only deep underground, but also on its surface. Nowadays bog ore is of no industrial interest, but in ancient times it was important. Thus, countries that held a monopoly position in the production of bronze lost their monopoly on the production of metal. With the discovery of iron, countries poor in copper ores quickly overtook the countries that were advanced in the Bronze Age.

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 " iron age"was introduced around the mid-19th century by the Danish archaeologist K. J. Thomsen. The most important studies, initial classification and dating of Iron Age monuments in Western Europe were carried out by M. Görnes, O. Montelius, O. Tischler, M. Reinecke, J. Dechelet, N. Oberg, J. L. Pietsch and J. Kostrzewski; in East Europe - V. A. Gorodtsov, A. A. Spitsyn, Yu. V. Gauthier, P. N. Tretyakov, A. P. Smirnov, Kh. A. Moora, M. I. Artamonov, B. N. Grakov and etc.; in Siberia - S. A. Teploukhov, S. V. Kiselev, S. I. Rudenko and others; in the Caucasus - B. A. Kuftin, B. B. Piotrovsky, E. I. Krupnov and others.

The period of initial expansion of the iron industry was experienced by all countries in different time, however, the Iron Age usually refers only to 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). The Iron Age is very short compared to previous archaeological eras (Stone and Bronze Ages). 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 emergence of a class society and state among these tribes. Some modern foreign scientists who consider the end primitive history the time of appearance of written sources is attributed to the end of the Iron Age Western Europe to 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 material from which tools are made, the modern era is entering the Iron Age, therefore the term “early Iron Age” is also used for the archaeological periodization of primitive history. In Western Europe, only its beginning is called the Early Iron Age (the so-called Hallstatt culture). Despite the fact that iron is the most common metal in the world, it was developed late by man, since it is almost never found in nature in its pure form, is difficult to process, and its ores are difficult to distinguish from various minerals. Initially, meteorite iron became known to mankind. Small iron objects (mainly jewelry) are found in the 1st half of the 3rd millennium BC. e. 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 long time iron remained a rare and very valuable metal. Only after the 11th century BC. e. Quite a wide production of iron weapons and tools began in Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, and India. At the same time, iron became famous in southern Europe. In the 11th-10th centuries BC. e. individual iron objects penetrate into the region lying north of the Alps and are found in the steppes of the south of the European part of the USSR, but iron tools begin to dominate in these areas only in the 8-7 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 spread only in the 5th century BC. e. Iron spread to Indochina and Indonesia at the turn of our 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. The Iron Age began in central Africa. Some African tribes passed 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 2nd millennium AD. e. along with the arrival of Europeans in these areas.

Unlike comparatively rare sources In the mining of copper and especially tin, iron ores, although most often low-grade (brown iron ores, lake ores, swamps, meadows, etc.), are found almost everywhere. But it is much more difficult to obtain iron from ores than copper. Melting iron, that is, obtaining it in a liquid state, was always inaccessible to ancient metallurgists, since this required a very high temperature (1528°). Iron was obtained in a dough-like state using the cheese-blowing process, which consisted of the reduction of iron ore with carbon at a temperature of 1100-1350° in special furnaces with air blown by forging bellows through a nozzle. A kritsa was formed at the bottom of the furnace - a lump of porous dough-like iron weighing 1-8 kg, which had to be hammered repeatedly to compact and partially remove (squeeze out) the slag from it. Hot iron is soft, but back in ancient times (about the 12th century BC) a method of hardening iron products was discovered (by immersing them in cold water) and their cementation (carburization). Iron bars ready for blacksmithing and intended for trade exchange usually had a bipyramidal shape in Western Asia and Western Europe. The higher mechanical qualities of iron, as well as the general availability of iron ore and the low cost of the new metal, ensured the displacement of bronze by iron, 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 began to play a truly significant role as a material for making tools. The technical revolution caused by the spread of iron greatly expanded man's power over nature. It made it 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 has become easier and the military equipment, exchange expanded, metal coins spread as a means of circulation.

The development of productive forces associated with the spread of iron, over time, led to the transformation of the entire public life. As a result of the growth of productive labor, the surplus product increased, which, in turn, served economic prerequisite for the emergence of exploitation of man by man, the collapse of the tribal system. One of the sources of accumulation of values and growth of property inequality was the expansion of exchange during the Iron Age. The possibility of enrichment through exploitation gave rise to wars for the purpose of plunder and enslavement. The beginning of the Iron Age was characterized by widespread fortifications. During the Iron Age, the tribes of Europe and Asia experienced the stage of decomposition of the primitive communal system, and were on the eve of the emergence of class society and the state. The transition of part of the 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. Many tribes social order this transition period took political form so-called military democracy.

A. L. Mongait. Moscow.

Soviet historical encyclopedia. In 16 volumes. - M.: Soviet encyclopedia. 1973-1982. Volume 5. DVINSK - INDONESIA. 1964.

Literature:

Engels F., The origin of the family, private property and the state, M., 1953; Artsikhovsky A.V., Introduction to Archeology, 3rd ed., M., 1947; The World History, vol. 1-2, M., 1955-56; Gernes M., Culture of the Prehistoric Past, trans. from German, part 3, M., 1914; Gorodtsov V. A., Household Archeology, M., 1910; 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, "CA", 1958, No. 4; Jessen A. A., On the issue of monuments of the VIII - VII centuries. BC e. in the South of the European part of the USSR, in collection: "CA" (vol.) 18, M., 1953; Kiselev S. V., Ancient history Yu. Siberia, (2nd ed.), M., 1951; Clark D.G.D., Prehistoric Europe. Economical essay, trans. from English, M., 1953; Krupnov E.I., Ancient history North Caucasus, M., 1960; Lyapushkin I.I., Monuments of the Saltovo-Mayatskaya culture in the river basin. Don, "MIA", 1958, No. 62; his, Dnieper forest-steppe left bank in the Iron Age, "MIA", 1961, No. 104; Mongait A.L., Archeology in the USSR, M., 1955; Niederle L., Slavic Antiquities, trans. from Czech., M., 1956; Okladnikov A.P., The distant past of Primorye, Vladivostok, 1959; Essays on the history of the USSR. Primitive communal system and ancient states on the territory of the USSR, M., 1956; Monuments of Zarubintsy culture, "MIA", 1959, No. 70; Piotrovsky B.V., Archeology of Transcaucasia from ancient times to 1 thousand BC. e., Leningrad, 1949; his, Van Kingdom, M., 1959; Rudenko S.I., Culture of the population of Central Altai in Scythian times, M.-L., 1960; Smirnov A.P., Iron Age of the Chuvash Volga Region, M., 1961; Tretyakov P. N., East Slavic tribes, 2nd ed., M., 1953; Chernetsov V.N., Lower Ob region in 1 thousand AD. e., "MIA", 1957, No. 58; Déchelette J., Manuel d'archéologie prehistorique celtique et gallo-romaine, 2 ed., t. 3-4, P., 1927; Johannsen O., Geschichte des Eisens, Düsseldorf, 1953; Moora H., Die Eisenzeit in Lettland bis etwa 500 n. Chr., (t.) 1-2, Tartu (Dorpat), 1929-38; Redlich A., Die Minerale im Dienste der Menschheit, Bd 3 - Das Eisen, Prag, 1925; and metals, v. 1-2, N. Y.-L., 1932.

The archaeological era from which the use of objects made from iron ore begins. The earliest iron-making furnaces, dating back to the 1st half. II millennium BC discovered in Western Georgia. In Eastern Europe and the Eurasian steppe and forest-steppe, the beginning of the era coincides with the time of the formation of early nomadic formations of the Scythian and Saka types (approximately VIII-VII centuries BC). In Africa it came immediately after the Stone Age (there is no Bronze Age). In America, the beginning of the Iron Age is associated with European colonization. It began in Asia and Europe almost simultaneously. Often, only the first stage of the Iron Age is called the Early Iron Age, the boundary of which is the final stages of the era of the Great Migration of Peoples (IV-VI centuries AD). In general, the Iron Age includes the entire Middle Ages, and based on the definition, this era continues to this day.

There is no doubt that the discovery of iron was prepared by several millennia of development of copper metallurgy. Particularly important was the invention of bellows for blowing air into smelting furnaces. Such bellows were used in non-ferrous metallurgy, increasing the flow of oxygen into the forge, which not only increased its temperature, but also created conditions for a successful chemical reaction of metal reduction. A metallurgical furnace, even a primitive one, is a kind of chemical retort in which not so much physical as chemical processes occur. Such a stove was made of stone and coated with clay (or it was made of clay alone) on a massive clay or stone base. The thickness of the furnace walls reached 20 cm. The height of the furnace shaft was about 1 m. Its diameter was the same. In the front wall of the furnace at the bottom level there was a hole through which the coal loaded into the shaft was set on fire, and through it the kritsa was taken out. Archaeologists use the Old Russian name for a furnace for “cooking” iron - “domnitsa”. The process itself is called cheese making. This term emphasizes the importance of blowing air into a furnace filled with iron ore and coal.

Unlike bronze objects, iron objects could not be made by casting; they were forged. By the time iron metallurgy was discovered, the forging process had a thousand-year history. They forged on a metal stand - an anvil. A piece of iron was first heated in a forge, and then the blacksmith, holding it with tongs on an anvil, hit the place with a small hammer-handle, where his assistant then struck the iron, hitting the iron with a heavy hammer-sledgehammer.

Iron was first mentioned in the correspondence of the Egyptian pharaoh with the Hittite king, preserved in the archives of the 14th century. BC e. in Amarna (Egypt). From this time, small iron products have reached us in Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Aegean world.

On the territory of the USSR, iron first appeared in Transcaucasia.

Scythians

Scythians - exoethnonym Greek origin, applied to a group of peoples living in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Siberia in antiquity. The ancient Greeks called the country where the Scythians lived Scythia.

In our time, under the Scythians in in the narrow sense usually understand Iranian-speaking nomads who in the past occupied the territories of Ukraine, Moldova, Southern Russia, Kazakhstan and parts of Siberia. This does not exclude a different ethnicity of some of the tribes, which ancient authors also called Scythians.

Information about the Scythians comes mainly from the works of ancient authors (especially Herodotus’s “History”) and archaeological excavations on lands from the lower Danube to Siberia and Altai. The Scythian-Sarmatian language, as well as the Alan language derived from it, were part of the northeastern branch of the Iranian languages and were probably the ancestor of the modern Ossetian language, as indicated by hundreds of Scythian personal names, names of tribes, and rivers preserved in Greek records.

Later, starting from the era of the Great Migration of Peoples, the word “Scythians” was used in Greek (Byzantine) sources to name all the peoples of completely different origins who inhabited the Eurasian steppes and the northern Black Sea region: in sources of the 3rd-4th centuries AD “Scythians” are often called and German-speaking Goths, in later Byzantine sources they were called Scythians Eastern Slavs- Rus', Turkic-speaking Khazars and Pechenegs, as well as Alans related to the ancient Iranian-speaking Scythians.

Emergence. The underlying basis of early Indo-European, including Scythian, culture is being actively studied by supporters Kurgan hypothesis. Archaeologists attribute the formation of a relatively generally recognized Scythian culture to 7th century BC e. (Arzhan burial mounds). At the same time, there are two main approaches to interpreting its occurrence. According to one, based on the so-called “third legend” of Herodotus, the Scythians came from the east, expelling what can be archaeologically interpreted as coming from the lower reaches of the Syr Darya, from Tuva or some other areas Central Asia(see Pazyryk culture).

Another approach, which can also be based on the legends recorded by Herodotus, suggests that the Scythians had by that time lived in the Northern Black Sea region for at least several centuries, having separated from the successors of the Timber-frame culture.

Maria Gimbutas and the scientists of her circle attribute the appearance of the Scythian ancestors (horse domestication cultures) to 5 - 4 thousand BC. e. According to other versions, these ancestors are associated with other cultures. They also appear to be the descendants of the bearers of the Timber Frame culture of the Bronze Age, who advanced from the 14th century. BC e. from the Volga region to the west. Others believe that the main core of the Scythians emerged thousands of years ago from Central Asia or Siberia and mixed with the population of the Northern Black Sea region (including the territory of Ukraine). The ideas of Marija Gimbutas extend in the direction of further research into the origins of the Scythians.

Grain farming was of considerable importance. The Scythians produced grain for export, in particular to Greek cities, and through them to the Greek metropolis. Grain production required the use of slave labor. The bones of murdered slaves often accompany the burials of Scythian slave owners. The custom of killing people during the burial of masters is known in all countries and is characteristic of the era of the emergence of the slave economy. There are known cases of slaves being blinded, which does not agree with the assumption of patriarchal slavery among the Scythians. Agricultural tools, in particular sickles, are found at Scythian settlements, but arable tools are extremely rare; they were probably all wooden and did not have iron parts. The fact that the Scythians had arable farming is judged not so much by the finds of these tools, but by the amount of grain produced by the Scythians, which would have been many times less if the land had been cultivated with a hoe.

Fortified settlements appeared relatively late, at the turn of the 5th and 4th centuries. BC e., when the Scythians had sufficiently developed crafts and trade.

According to Herodotus, the royal Scythians were dominant - the easternmost of the Scythian tribes, bordering the Don with the Sauromatians, also occupied the steppe Crimea. To the west of them lived the Scythian nomads, and even further west, on the left bank of the Dnieper, the Scythian farmers. On the right bank of the Dnieper, in the basin of the Southern Bug, near the city of Olbia, lived the Callipids, or Hellenic-Scythians, to the north of them - the Alazons, and even further to the north - the Scythian ploughmen, and Herodotus points to agriculture as differences from the Scythians the last three tribes and clarifies that if the Callipids and Alazons grow and eat bread, then the Scythian plowmen grow bread for sale.

The Scythians already fully owned the production of ferrous metal. Other types of production are also represented: bone carving, pottery, weaving. But only metallurgy has so far reached the level of craftsmanship.

There are two lines of fortifications on the Kamensky settlement: external and internal. Archaeologists call the inner part the acropolis by analogy with the corresponding division of Greek cities. The remains of stone dwellings of the Scythian nobility have been traced on the acropolis. Row dwellings were mainly above-ground houses. Their walls sometimes consisted of pillars, the bases of which were dug into specially dug grooves along the contour of the dwelling. There are also semi-dugout dwellings.

The oldest Scythian arrows are flat, often with a spike on the sleeve. They are all socketed, that is, they have a special tube into which the arrow shaft is inserted. Classic Scythian arrows are also socketed, they resemble a trihedral pyramid, or three-bladed - the ribs of the pyramid seem to have developed into blades. The arrows are made of bronze, which has finally won its place in the production of arrows.

Scythian ceramics were made without the help of a potter's wheel, although in the Greek colonies neighboring the Scythians the wheel was widely used. Scythian vessels are flat-bottomed and varied in shape. Scythian bronze cauldrons up to a meter high, which had a long and thin leg and two vertical handles, became widespread.

Scythian art is well known mainly from objects from burials. It is characterized by the depiction of animals in certain poses and with exaggeratedly noticeable paws, eyes, claws, horns, ears, etc. Ungulates (deer, goat) were depicted with bent legs, cat predators - curled up in a ring. Scythian art presents strong or fast and sensitive animals, which corresponds to the Scythian’s desire to overtake, hit, and be always ready. It is noted that some images are associated with certain Scythian deities. The figures of these animals seemed to protect their owner from harm. But the style was not only sacred, but also decorative. The claws, tails and shoulder blades of predators were often shaped like a head bird of prey; sometimes full images of animals were placed in these places. This artistic style received the name animal style in archeology. In early times in the Volga region, animal ornaments were evenly distributed between representatives of the nobility and ordinary people. In the IV-III centuries. BC e. the animal style is degenerating, and objects with similar ornaments are presented mainly in graves. The Scythian burials are the most famous and best studied. The Scythians buried their dead in pits or catacombs, under mounds. lah nobles. In the area of the Dnieper rapids there are the famous Scythian mounds. Golden vessels are found in the royal burial mounds of the Scythians, art products made of gold, expensive weapon. Thus, a new phenomenon is observed in the Scythian mounds - strong wealth stratification. There are small and huge mounds, some burials without things, others with huge amounts of gold.

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. Picture 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.

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.

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 the Scythian tribes who created the most developed culture early Zh. 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 Ananino 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, for a long time successfully competed with iron. 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. IN economically This era is characterized by the growth of agriculture, and in social terms 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. Rhine, Danube and Elbe, as well as in the south of the Scandinavian Peninsula, and archaeological cultures, whose bearers 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. before 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 V mid-19th century 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, are considered to be the Iron Age. Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, India, China.

EARLY IRON AGE (VII century BC – IV century AD)

In archeology, the Early Iron Age is the period of history following the Bronze Age, characterized by the beginning of the active use of iron by man and, as a result, the widespread use of iron products. Traditionally chronologically The early Iron Age in the northern Black Sea region is considered to be the 7th century BC. e.-V century n. e. The development of iron and the beginning of the manufacture of more efficient tools caused a significant qualitative increase in the productive forces, which, in turn, gave a significant impetus to the development of agriculture, crafts and weapons. During this period, most tribes and peoples developed a productive economy based on agriculture and cattle breeding, population growth was noted, economic ties were established, and the role of exchange increased, including over long distances (in the early Iron Age, the Great Silk Road was formed.). The main types of civilization received their final design: sedentary agricultural and pastoral and steppe - pastoral.

It is believed that the first iron products were made from meteorite iron. Later, objects made of iron of earthly origin appear. The method of obtaining iron from ores was discovered in the 2nd millennium BC. in Asia Minor.

To obtain iron, they used cheese furnaces, or furnaces, into which air was artificially pumped using bellows. The first forges, about a meter high, had a cylindrical shape and were narrowed at the top. They were loaded with iron ore and charcoal. Blowing nozzles were inserted into the lower part of the forge, with their help the air necessary for burning coal was supplied to the furnace. A fairly high temperature was created inside the forge. As a result of melting, iron was reduced from the rock loaded into the furnace, which was welded into a loose lamellar mass - kritsa. Kritsa was forged in a hot state, due to which the metal became homogeneous and dense. Forged krits were the starting material for the manufacture of various items. A piece of iron obtained in this way was cut into pieces, heated on an open forge, and the necessary objects were forged from a piece of iron using a hammer and an anvil.

In the context of world history, the early Iron Age is a heyday ancient Greece, Greek colonization, formation, development and fall of the Persian Empire, Greco-Persian wars, the eastern campaigns of Alexander the Great and the formation of the Hellenistic states of the Middle East and Central Asia. In the early Iron Age, the Etruscan culture was formed on the Apennine Peninsula and the Roman Republic appeared. This is the time of the Punic Wars (Rome with Carthage) and the emergence of the Roman Empire, which occupied vast territories along the coast Mediterranean Sea and established control over Gaul, Spain, Thrace, Dacia and part of Britain. For Western and Central Europe, the Early Iron Age is the time of the Hallstatt (XI - late VI centuries BC) and Latent cultures (V - I centuries BC). In European archaeology, the La Tène culture left by the Celts is known as the “second Iron Age”. The period of its development is divided into three stages: A (V-IV centuries BC), B (IV-III centuries BC) and C (III-I BC). Monuments of La Tène culture are known in the Rhine and Laura basins, in the upper reaches of the Danube, in the territory of modern France, Germany, England, partly Spain, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. On the territory of Scandinavia, Germany and Poland, Germanic tribes. In South-Eastern Europe, the first half of the 1st millennium BC. this is the period of the existence of the Thracian and Geto-Dacian cultures. IN of Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, the cultures of the Scythian-Siberian world are known. Civilizations appear in the East Ancient India and Ancient China during the Qin and Han dynasties, the ancient Chinese ethnos is formed.

In Crimea, the Early Iron Age is primarily associated with nomadic tribes: Cimmerians (9th - mid-7th centuries BC), Scythians (7th - 4th centuries BC) and Sarmatians (1st century BC). e. - III century AD). The foothill and mountainous parts of the peninsula were inhabited by Taurian tribes, who left behind monuments of the Kizil-Koba culture (VIII - III centuries BC). At the end of the 7th - 6th centuries. BC. Crimea became a place of settlement for Greek colonists, and the first Greek settlements appeared on the peninsula. In the 5th century BC. Greek cities of Eastern Crimea unite into the Bosporan kingdom. In the same century, the Greek city of Chersonesos was founded on the Southwestern coast, which, along with the Bosporan state, became an important political, cultural and economic center of the peninsula. In the 4th century. BC. Greek city-states appear in Northwestern Crimea. In the 3rd century. BC. in the foothills of the peninsula, as a result of the Scythians’ transition to sedentary life, the Late Scythian kingdom arose. Its population left a significant number of monuments of the culture of the same name. The appearance of the troops of the Pontic Kingdom (in the 2nd century BC) and the Roman Empire (from the 1st century AD) on the peninsula is associated with the late Scythians; these states different periods time were allies of Chersonesos, with whom the Scythians fought constant wars. In the 3rd century. AD An alliance of Germanic tribes led by the Goths invades Crimea, as a result of which the last large Late Scythian settlements were destroyed. From this time on, a new cultural community, the descendants of the bearers of which in the Middle Ages would become known as the Goth-Alans.