c. 1200 BC
Iron smelting and strengthening
Materials & manufacturing · Technology · Industry
The capacity to smelt and strengthen iron spread in the eastern Mediterranean at the beginning of the Iron Age. Its tools changed agriculture, construction, and warfare.
Precision, calendar, and review
- Start
- year · approximate
- Calendar and convention
- Historical-era years; the source calendar is not identified. No conversion of days is assumed.
- Year zero
- The scale goes from 1 BCE to 1 CE without year zero. Changing era names changes labels only.
- Documentary review
- Date not recorded
Reading the date: point event.
Sources
- resources.metmuseum.org (opens in a new tab)
Source provenance and scope
- Publication date
- Pending verification
- Bibliographic date checked
- 2026-09-23
The correspondence between this reference and individual claims has not yet been itemized.
This record is an editorial synthesis. Consult the sources to check claims and their limits. Chronological relationships alone do not establish causation.