Questions tagged [iron-age]
For questions regarding the later period in the three-age system, characterized by the production of tools and weaponry made of carbon steel.
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Why iron is not discussed more as a probable cause of "Bronze age collapse"? [closed]
Most discussed possible causes for Bronze Age Collapse are
Climate change
Droughts (either natural, or caused by deforestation)
Volcanic eruption
Sea People
But Bonze Age Collapse is also begining ...
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How many people were in an average Iron Age Celtic settlement? [closed]
How many people were in an average Celtic settlement (or tribe - not sure if they correspond as one to one) in the Iron Age?
My intuitive estimation is "from 100 to 5000".
I know the Iron Age is ...
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Iron or steel melting in ancient time
How did people from the ancient world, like Warring States period China, melt a high temperature metal like iron when the high temp crucible was not even invented nor having a fire source hot enough ...
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Are we now living in an Automation Age? [closed]
Background
Historians have grouped epochs of human technological advancement into various "Technology Ages" (characterized by the predominant types of tools and weapons used by humans) including the ...
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Is there any historicity to the concept of Ghost Fences / Walls?
A Ghost Wall or Fence is a concept I keep coming across in historical fiction set around the Iron Age or Sub-Roman Britain. Generally, it appears as a boundary made of deceased peoples bones to either ...
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Are there examples of stone age cultures living in proximity close to iron age cultures without adapting to metal use?
BACKGROUND
I was reading about the technological diffusion of metallurgy, and started to wonder if there were good historical examples of stone age peoples living near to or having extensive contact ...
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When did Aurochs (large wild cattle) become extinct in Britain?
Estimated to average around 150cm (cows) and 170cm (bulls) at the shoulder, the aurochs
was an important animal to humans, during prehistory when it was
widely hunted, and in some areas also ...
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What is the definition, usage, and etymology of “Sandy ware”?
Wikipedia has the category "Sandy ware in the Portable Antiquities Scheme"
Is it a kind of pottery? Or a type of coating for pottery? That's what I would understand from this page. What would it have ...
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What was the strategic importance of Judea?
I'm interested in ancient Judea, from the dissolution of the monarchy to the beginning of John Hyrcanus. It was a small wedge to the west of the Dead Sea. What was the strategic significance of this ...
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Was Celtic society promiscuous?
I have been trying to find an answer to the above question. In pre-Roman and Roman Britain were the Celtic peoples promiscuous or did they have only one married partner? Is there strong enough ...
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How common / uncommon was sword-vs-sword combat on ancient battlegrounds?
The question Any notable battles fought with steel vs. bronze weapons?, more precisely the comment to this answer to the tone of "ah, but that was mainly a chariot battle...", piqued my interest.
As ...
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Did iron age Britons still use the "ritual" sites built by their neolithic predecessors?
Pre-Roman sites in Britain get lumped together as "ancient", but in reality they span a good couple of thousand years between the neolithic and the iron age.
That made me wonder whether there was any ...
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How was iron obtained in ancient times? [closed]
Today we have advanced machines to mine iron, but it was not so a millennium ago. How did our ancestors locate the presence of iron deposits, mine them and make weapons out of them? How did they ...
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Is there contemporary evidence for the Roman Kingdom?
The early history of Ancient Rome is notoriously poorly documented. The Gaul Sack of Rome (390 BC) has destroyed much early written records. What evidence do we have that remains of the Roman Kingdom? ...
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What age were these Britons in A.D. 43?
I have been doing a lot of research on the Roman invasion of Britain and have come across a number of problems with information.
My question is how old specific people were in 43 AD. I have ...
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Am I imagining this or did I just found one of the oldest "hidden" erotic artworks ever?
I was just wiki-walking around my country's (Netherlands) history when I stumbled upon this topic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ger%C3%B0r
She is the wife of the god Freyr, whom apparently the ...
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Did the chariot drop in importance between bronze age Greece and the iron age Greece? Why, why not?
In what I've read about classical Greece - about Persian wars, Pelaponesian wars, Battle of Leuctra, Macedonia conquest...etc. - military discussion seems to be mostly about the Phalanx with a bit ...
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How did people acquire things in the pre-Roman Celtic world?
Today, when you want to acquire something that you don't make yourself, you buy it with money. How did people acquire things in the pre-Roman Celtic world?
Let's say you wanted to acquire something ...
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Early history of prime numbers
Prime numbers are those whole numbers greater than 1 which cannot be written as a product of numbers greater than 1. I'm curious about their very early history, say 200 BC and earlier. What I know:
...
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Have there been any notable battles fought with steel vs. bronze weapons?
In answering the question "was the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age violent?" I found out a few facts that I hadn't expected. Namely, that the early iron weapons weren't necessarily ...
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How was life in the Iron Age different from life in the Middle Ages?
Let's say you were from the Middle Ages, 1200s England or Germany, and you got thrown back in time to the Iron Age. It's still the same place, but it's 400 BC. Apart from the language, what would ...
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Was the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age violent?
In Europe, when the Bronze Age ended and the Iron Age began, was it a peaceful spread of technology, or was it a violent conquest where the newcomers were able to win by their more advanced technology?...