Iron Age Europe
For much of Europe, the period came to an abrupt end after conquest by the Romans, though ironworking remained the dominant technology until recent times.
Iron working was introduced to Europe in the late 11th century BC,[3] probably from the Caucasus, and slowly spread northwards and westwards over the succeeding 500 years.
In the Pontic steppe and the Caucasus region, the Iron Age begins with the Koban and the Chernogorovka and Novocherkassk cultures from c. 900 BC.
The majority of remains of their iron-producing and blacksmithing industries from the 5th to 3rd centuries BC was found near Nikopol in Kamenskoye Gorodishche, which is believed to be the specialized metallurgic region of the ancient Scythia.
[6][7] The Old Iron Age was an era of immense changes in the lands inhabited by the Balts, i.e. the territories from the Vistula Lagoon and the Baltic Sea in the west to the Oka in the east, and between the Middle Dnieper in the south and northern Latvia to the north.
[8] The local smiths learned to harden iron into steel, which resulted in tougher weapons than stone or horn instruments.
[8] In the Greek Dark Ages, edged iron weapons were widely available, but a variety of explanations fits the available archaeological evidence.
As Greece sent colonists eastwards, across the Black Sea, and westwards towards Sicily and Italy (Pithekoussae, Cumae), the influence of their alphabet extended further.
The ethnic ascription of many Iron Age cultures has been bitterly contested, as the roots of Germanic, Baltic and Slavic peoples were sought in this area.
[12][13] The 'Celtic' culture had expanded to the group of islands of northwest Europe (Insular Celts) and Iberia (Celtiberians, Celtici and Gallaeci).
In 2017, a Celtic warrior's grave, dated to about BC 320 to 174, was discovered at a housing development under construction in Pocklington at the Yorkshire Wolds.
After archeologists completed a very long excavation project, the site was found to include a bronze shield, remains of a chariot and the skeletons of ponies.
One design element on the extremely well-preserved Pocklington shield, a scalloped border, "is not comparable to any other Iron Age finds across Europe, adding to its valuable uniqueness", said Paula Ware, managing director at MAP Archaeological Practice Ltd in late 2019.
"The discoveries are set to widen our understanding of the Arras (Middle Iron Age) culture and the dating of artefacts to secure contexts is exceptional," according to Paula Ware.
The duration of the Iron Age is variously estimated according to how its commencement is placed nearer to or farther from the opening years of the Christian era, but it is generally agreed that the last division of the Iron Age of Scandinavia, the Viking Period, is considered to be from 700 to 1000 AD, when paganism in those lands was superseded by Christianity.
The earliest part of the Iron Age in northwestern Germany and southern Jutland was dominated by the Jastorf culture.
However, a recent study by researchers at the University of Kiel has shown that the first urnfields were built as early as the 7th century BC, in the very late Bronze Age.
In Northern Europe, there was usually only one crop harvested before grass growth took over, while in the south, suitable fall was used for several years and the soil was quickly exhausted.
He says that Thule was a fertile land, "rich in fruits that were ripe only until late in the year, and the people there used to prepare a drink of honey.
Rome was entirely dependent on shifting cultivation by the barbarians to survive and maintain "Pax Romana", but when the supply from the colonies "trans alpina" began to wear out, the Roman Empire collapsed.
[citation needed] Tacitus writes in AD 98 about the Germans: fields are proportionate to the participating growers, but they share their crops with each other by reputation.
They change soil every year, and mark some off to spare, for they seek not a strenuous job in reaping from this fertile and vast land even greater yields—such as by planting apple orchards, or by fencing off fields; or by watering gardens; grain is the only thing they insist that the ground will provide.
They cultivated small patches of land, guarded their sheep and their cattle, traded with foreign merchants, and at times fought with one another: etruscans, umbriere, ligurianere, sabinere, Latinos, campaniere, apulianere, faliscanere, and samniter, just to mention a few.
When Rome built the Via Amerina 241 BC, the Faliscan people established themselves in cities on the plains, and they collaborated with the Romans on road construction.
Julius Caesar wrote about Svebians, "Commentarii de Bello Gallico, "book 4.1; they are not by private and secluded fields, "privati ac separati agri apud eos nihil est", they cannot stay more than one year in a place for cultivation's sake, "Neque longius anno remanere uno in loco colendi causa licet ".
"Neque quisquam agri modum certum aut fines habet proprios, sed magistratus ac principes in annos singulos gentibus cognationibusque hominum, qui tum una coierunt, a quantum et quo loco visum est agri attribuunt atque anno post alio transire cogunt" book 6, 22.
Common to all the people in this area is that they can easily change residence because of their sordid way of life; that they do not grow any fields and do not collect property, but live in temporary huts.
Screrefennae moved a lot and did not bring to the field crops, but made their living by hunting and collecting bird eggs.
"Both men and women engaged incessantly just in hunting the rich forests and mountains, which gave them an endless supply of game and wild animals."
Adam of Bremen describes Sweden, according to information he received from the Danish king Sven Estridson or also called Sweyn II of Denmark in 1068: "It is very fruitful, the earth holds many crops and honey, it has a greater livestock than all other countries, there are a lot of useful rivers and forests, with regard to women they do not know moderation, they have for their economic position two, three, or more wives simultaneously, the rich and the rulers are innumerable."
