8. How was iron used in this period?
Answers
Explanation:
Iron is an enigma – it rusts easily, yet it is the most important of all metals. 90% of all metal that is refined today is iron. Most is used to manufacture steel, used in civil engineering (reinforced concrete, girders etc) and in manufacturing.
The Iron Age was a period in human history that started between 1200 B.C. and 600 B.C., depending on the region, and followed the Stone Age and Bronze Age. During the Iron Age, people across much of Europe, Asia and parts of Africa began making tools and weapons from iron and steel.
The widespread use of iron weapons which replaced bronze weapons rapidly disseminated throughout the Near East (North Africa, southwest Asia) by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The development of iron smelting was once attributed to the Hittites of Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age.
Iron was originally smelted in bloomeries, furnaces where bellows were used to force air through a pile of iron ore and burning charcoal. The carbon monoxide produced by the charcoal reduced the iron oxide from the ore to metallic iron.
Iron is a metal and the sixth most common chemical element in the universe. Iron makes up most of Earth's inner and outer core, and it is also a major part of Earth's crust. Iron is even found in the Sun, stars, and some planets too!