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Preferred term

Iron Age  

Definition

  • The Iron Age is the final period of European prehistory. The beginning of the European Iron Age is conventionally defined as the date when iron replaced bronze for the manufacture of weapons and tools in the early1st millennium BCE. In many parts of Central and Western Europe, the Iron Age ends when these regions are incorporated into the Roman Empire in the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE. In the regions that were never conquered by the Romans, such as Germany, Scandinavia, and Poland, the period from 1 CE through 400 CE is termed the “Roman Iron Age.” In Scandinavia, the period from 400 to 800 CE is referred to as the “Germanic Iron Age,” and the Iron Age ends with the beginning of the Viking period around 800 CE. For most of Central and Western Europe, however, the Iron Age begins around 800 BCE and ends around 1 BCE. Since the later 19th century, the European Iron Age has been divided into an early period known as the Hallstatt Period (ca.800–480 BCE) and a later period known as the La Tène Period (ca. [Source: Encyclopedia of Anthropology; Iron Age]

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http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/N9J-GF9NN172-L

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