c. 1,200 BCE
Technology
Anatolia and Levant
Iron smelting
Bloomery furnaces produce workable iron from abundant ore.
Why it mattered
A cheap, common metal replaced scarce bronze, democratising tools and weapons.
Iron Age
1,200 BCE
2 recorded milestones at this point in the record.
c. 1,200 BCE
Art & Culture
Mesoamerica
Olmec colossal heads
Gulf Coast sculptors moved basalt boulders many kilometres to carve monumental portraits.
Why it mattered
The founding artistic tradition of Mesoamerican civilisation.
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Nearby in the record
c. 1,500 BCEExploration
Lapita voyaging into the Pacific
Oceania
c. 1,500 BCEMedicine
Ayurvedic and Vedic medical tradition
South Asia
c. 1,350 BCESociety
Nubian pyramid kingdoms of Kush
Nubia
c. 1,000 BCESociety
Coinage precursors and standard weights
Near East
c. 1,000 BCETechnology
Iron working at Nok and the Great Lakes
West Africa
c. 900 BCESociety
Chavin de Huantar
Andes