c. 1,000 BCE
Society
Near East
Coinage precursors and standard weights
Fixed silver weights circulate as money across the Near East.
Why it mattered
Abstract, transferable value made complex trade possible.
Iron Age
1,000 BCE
2 recorded milestones at this point in the record.
c. 1,000 BCE
Technology
West Africa
Iron working at Nok and the Great Lakes
Sub-Saharan smiths built shaft furnaces producing steel-grade bloom iron.
Why it mattered
An independent African iron tradition with distinctive high-temperature furnaces.
Sign in to amend this page or add a milestone — every edit is signed and kept in the record.
Nearby in the record
c. 1,200 BCETechnology
Iron smelting
Anatolia and Levant
c. 1,200 BCEArt & Culture
Olmec colossal heads
Mesoamerica
c. 900 BCESociety
Chavin de Huantar
Andes
c. 800 BCECommunication
Greek alphabet with vowels
Greece
c. 700 BCETechnology
Aqueducts and qanats
Persia
c. 700 BCEWarfare
Assyrian siege engineering
Mesopotamia