Iron Age Farm Implements

History

• The Stone Age represents the earliest stage of man learning to craft tools. Sharpened flint was used for a variety of tools including axes, spear and arrowheads, scrapers and knives. The Stone Age gave way to the Bronze Age as humans learned the process of smelting. The Iron Age developed at different times in different parts of the world but is generally thought to have begun in the Caucasus Mountains of Europe sometime in the 1300s B.C.

Significance

• Iron began to replace bronze as the metal of choice for blacksmiths once they learned to handle the higher temperatures required to smelt iron ore. Iron was less expensive than bronze due to periodic shortages of tin and copper. Smiths learned to craft iron farm tools with carbon to create steel tools and weapons. These tools were considerably stronger than their bronze counterparts, were easier to sharpen, held their edge better and weighed about the same.

Function

• Iron Age farm implements fell into three broad categories: fodder-producing, ground-breaking and protection. Fodder-producing pieces included such articles as scythes and sickles used for harvesting. Bridles made from leather straps and iron rings were used to control horses and mules and iron horseshoes and horseshoe spikes were also common. Ground-breaking implements such as plows allowed farmers to plant their seeds deeper in the ground, resulting in more bountiful harvests. Life was still quite dangerous for Iron Age farmers, so weapons of iron also began to develop. Arrowheads, spearheads and axheads were common on Iron Age farms.

Time Frame

• The Iron Age can be further broken down into two sub-ages. Iron Age I, or the Early Iron Age, is generally accepted to run from 1200 B.C. to 1000 B.C. It is marked by both its continuity and divergence with the Bronze Age. Iron Age II, or the Late Iron Age, ran from 1000 B.C. to around 550 B.C. This was a period of great political upheaval in the Western world. Egypt, the great power of the day, was in decline. The nations of Israel and Judah asserted their authority for a season before falling first to the Assyrians and then to Babylon. The Iron Age eventually ended with the ascendancy of Rome.

Geography

• Eastern Europe witnessed the start of the Iron Age when blacksmiths began smelting iron in Caucasus Mountains around 1300 B.C. The practice of supplanting bronze with iron for farm implements eventually spread westward throughout Europe over the next 500 years. The Asian Iron Age started in the Yangzi Valley at the end of the sixth century B.C. Ancient Russia began to experience the Iron Age in the seventh century B.C. Most of the African continent appears to have skipped the Bronze Age altogether and leaped directly from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. The end of the Iron Age corresponds with the rise of The Roman Empire.