Iron: The Origin Story

Slowly, your village learns what is happening. Invaders are headed your way. They are armed with deadlier weapons than yours. Even worse, they outnumber your people. Their advanced technology allows them to have larger populations. It also allows them to reshape the world around them. These are not alien invaders. They’re humans who have learned to use iron, the most common metal on earth.

Early human history is usually studied in three periods: the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages. Historians give the periods these names because metal and stone tools are often the only artifacts we have from those times. Organizing early human history into these three periods is most accurate for the landmass known as Afro-Eurasia. Afro-Eurasia is the area including Europe, Asia, and Africa.

The Iron Age lasted 1,000 years. It started around 1500 BCE and ended around 500 BCE. We’re used to iron now. Back then, iron-making was an important new technology. To make iron, you needed a furnace. That furnace must be able to handle 1,538 degrees Celsius (2,800 degrees Fahrenheit). It took thousands of years for humans to learn how to make a furnace that hot.

The timing of the first iron-smelting¹ technologies is important. Toward the end of the Bronze Age in 1200 BCE, several major ancient states like Egypt and Greece began to fall. Natural disasters and war were two important reasons for this. At the same time, iron appeared. Iron changed politics, trade, nature, and society all over Eurasia.

Swords into ploughshares: Iron reshapes power dynamics

Iron is stronger than bronze. Another advantage of iron is that it is easier to find. It is much easier to make than bronze, too.

Some states depended on trade to get materials for making bronze. If trade was interrupted, those societies could not make bronze weapons or tools. Societies who began making iron grew stronger. They could make weapons faster and cheaper.

More ore: Iron reshapes trade networks

During the Bronze and Iron Ages, traders and armies traveled Eurasia. They brought bronze and iron technologies along Eurasian trade networks. Other parts of the world were left out of the Iron Age. These areas did not use iron for another 3,000 years.

Scientists believe the Hittites were the first to melt iron. They started around 1500 BCE. The Hittites ruled an empire in Anatolia. Anatolia is part of present-day Turkey.

About 500 years later, people all over Eurasia were using iron tools. In India and China, iron was used to make farming tools. This helped farmers grow more food. As a result, populations grew in those areas.

There is evidence that Africa and Anatolia discovered iron at the same time. Central African communities used iron to expand their societies.

Turning trees into swords: Iron reshapes the environment

Iron Age societies changed the environment in major ways. Iron Age societies planted more crops to feed their growing populations. They began to need larger fields. Trees were cut to make space for fields. Wood from the trees was used as fuel in iron furnaces. Forests began to disappear. Populations grew slowly for most of human history. During the Bronze and Iron Ages, human populations grew quickly.

Iron forges social relationships

Iron helped populations grow. Soon, empires expanded their territories. These empires needed government and iron technology to support their large armies. Rulers looked for ways to manage all the people in their empires. This created a new social order. After the Iron Age, rulers built roads and other infrastructure² to manage their empires.

Gender mattered in iron work. Men made iron in most regions, even in places where women were using iron. Iron became more important to communities. Men often held more power in those communities.

One metal, many paths

The journey to iron technology took different routes. Catherine Fourshey, Rhonda Gonzales, and Christine Saidi are historians. They explain the route of the Bantu³ people in Central Africa. The Bantu used termite mounds for melting iron. The shape and clay of the mounds worked as furnaces.

Bantu society did not consider metalworking to be “men’s work” or “women’s work.” It was far more complicated. The Bantu language show that for Bantu speakers, termite mounds, iron smelting, and motherhood were related. The iron furnaces were connected with the idea of women giving birth. Birth was linked to matrilineal history. Matrilineal societies trace ancestry through mothers. The Bantu are one example of how humans were connected to iron working, the environment, and each other.

1 Smelting is the process of removing metal from ore by melting it. Ore is a kind of rock with a lot of metal in it.
2 Infrastructure refers to the structures that allow a society to function. It can refer to physical structures like bridges, roads, and water supply. It can also refer to organizational structures like the education system.
3 Bantu refers to a group of languages spoken in Central and Southern Africa.