EIA, MIA time spans. AI

Perplexity

Early Iron Age time span

The Early Iron Age generally spans from around 1200 BCE to 800 BCE in the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean, marking the transition from the Late Bronze Age collapse. ​

Regional Variations

Dates vary significantly by geography due to independent developments in ironworking technology.

Near East/Anatolia: c. 1200–1000 BCE (Iron I), extending to 9th century BCE in some areas. ​

Greece/Cyprus: c. 1100–900 BCE. ​ Northern Europe (e.g., Denmark): c. 500 BCE–400 CE, often called Pre-Roman Iron Age. ​

Britain/Scotland: c. 800 BCE–AD 43 or 400.

Key Characteristics

This phase saw initial iron smelting (requiring high temperatures over 1200°C), replacing scarcer bronze for tools and weapons. Early adoption by Hittites (c. 1400 BCE) spread via trade and collapse of Bronze Age powers. ​

Middle Iron Age?

The Middle Iron Age follows the Early Iron Age and precedes the Late Iron Age, with dates varying by region due to local archaeological conventions.

Levant/Near East

In the Levant, this corresponds to Iron IIa (c. 1000–925 BCE) and Iron IIb (c. 925–586 BCE), spanning the period of the United Monarchy through the fall of Judah to Babylon. ​

Europe (Britain/Scotland)

For Britain and related areas, the Middle Iron Age runs from approximately 300 BCE to 100 BCE, marked by hillfort expansions and tribal developments.

Key Features

This phase often features refined iron technology, larger settlements like hillforts, and emerging social hierarchies, bridging early adoption to Roman contacts. ​

-800 to -200 in Persia and Mesopotamia is covered by which Iron Age spans?

The period from 800 BCE to 200 BCE in Persia and Mesopotamia primarily falls within the Middle and Late Iron Age spans, with some regional overlap into the Persian Achaemenid era.

Persia (Iranian Plateau)

This timeframe covers the late Middle Iron Age through the Late Iron Age, including the Median kingdom (c. 800–550 BCE) and the rise of the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great (c. 550–330 BCE), extending to Alexander's conquest around 330 BCE, after which ironworking persisted into the Hellenistic transition. ​

Mesopotamia

Here, 800–200 BCE aligns with the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–609 BCE), Neo-Babylonian Empire (626–539 BCE), and early Achaemenid Persian rule (539–330 BCE), all classified under Late Iron Age phases marked by iron weaponry dominance and imperial expansions.

Transitional Notes

By 539 BCE, Persian conquest ended the Iron Age in some chronologies, shifting to Persian imperial periods, though archaeological Iron Age conventions extend to c. 330 BCE before Hellenistic influence. ​