The first iron objects in Iran: the 9th century BCE

The explanations distinguish finds, interpretations and open questions. Sources appear at the end of the page.

What the source says

In its article on the Iron Age, Encyclopaedia Iranica writes: "Iron artifacts, in fact, were unknown in Iran until the 9th century B.C.E." The same article explains that in Iran the term Iron Age "is employed to identify a cultural change" that occurred centuries earlier than the time accorded its use elsewhere in the Near East, "and not to acknowledge the introduction of a new metal technology". Source 1.

The 9th century on the timeline

On the Met's timeline, Iron Age I is dated about 1450-1250 BCE and Iron Age II about 1250-800 BCE. The 9th century BCE, the years 900-801, falls in the last part of Iron Age II, some five centuries after the start of Iron Age I. At Hasanlu, Period V, which Iranica labels Iron Age I, ended with a destruction around 1200, three centuries before the first iron objects. The article is placed on the Iron Age II page because the episode it documents, the appearance of iron objects, is dated to the 9th century. Sources 2, 3, 1.

A period name, not a material

In Iran the label therefore names a cultural horizon, not a technical stage: an object from Iran's Iron Age I is not expected to be made of iron. The Met's timeline for 1000 BCE-1 CE, as read, uses the word iron only in its period names, and its entry for Luristan in the 8th-7th centuries BCE lists "an astonishing variety of bronze objects", including weapons. Sources 3, 1.

What cannot be said

The sentence in Iranica names no site or object with the earliest iron, does not say whether the first iron objects were made in Iran or brought from elsewhere, and does not say how common they were. The Met page for 1000 BCE-1 CE, as read, mentions no iron objects at all. Where and in what context iron first appears is a question for excavation reports, which were not read. Sources 1, 3.

Scope of reading: the Encyclopaedia Iranica article "Iron Age" and the Met timeline pages for Iran, 2000-1000 BCE and 1000 BCE-1 CE, were read on 24 October 2026. No excavation report or study of early iron in Iran was read, so this page names no site, object or analysis.