It was the introduction of wrought iron around 1,000 BC that ushered in the Iron Age. https://www.shapecut.com.au/blog/when-was-iron-first-used/

1. WHEN WAS IRON FIRST USED?

2. Iron is one of those essential elements that
has several different origin stories,
depending on what period of history you’re
thinking about. Its meteoric rise in
popularity over the development of human
civilisation has multiple starting points, so
let’s take a look at the biggest moments in
the story of iron over the years.

3. PRE-HISTORY IRON
Today iron is seen for what it is – a very brittle
material that is easily prone to corrosion – but it
was once such a highly prized commodity that its
value was higher than gold. Researchers have
found evidence of iron being used as ceremonial
and even mystical artefacts by ancient Egyptians
and were described then as gifts from the gods.

4. The reason behind this is that, back then,
iron wasn’t smelted from natural
resources on Earth. Instead it was only
found in meteorites that fell from space.
That’s a pretty rare event – how many
times have you found a meteorite?
It wasn’t until the Mesopotamian era of
5,000 BC that people figured out how to
smelt telluric and bog iron from the
elements around them, and that changed
everything. By 2,000 BC, according to
historians, iron was being widely used
throughout what we now know as Africa
and China. It was the introduction of
wrought iron around 1,000 BC that
ushered in the Iron Age.

5. While there’s no hard date that
the Iron Age is considered
officially begun, most people
agree it’s around 1,300 to 1,200
BC when iron finally became
cheap enough to produce and
practically use that it overtook
bronze as the go-to material for
crafting tools or even weapons.
THE IRON AGE BEGINS

6. Wrought iron, the metal made
when carbon is added to iron
while being forged, was likely
an accidental discovery from
contact with charcoal in the
smelting fires. Wrought iron
didn’t readily break like regular
bog iron did, and it proved to be
a more formidable opponent to
the harsh environment.

7. The team at ShapeCUT prefer to
be looking towards the future of
steel instead of the past, but we’re
grateful all the same for all the
innovations that have come
before. Talk to ShapeCUT today
about our range of steel cutting
and shaping services.
At any rate, the concept of mixing
other elements with iron took hold,
and more combinations were
devices to create new, sturdier,
materials. This led, eventually, to
the discovery of steel making.

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