The three-age classification system categorizes human prehistory from the first stone tools to the emergence of modern civilization in Europe. The Stone Age (2.6 million BC to 3500 BC), Bronze Age (3500 BC to 1200 BC), and Iron Age (1200 BC to 500 BC) are named after the main materials used for tool making. The system helps archaeologists and paleontologists understand prehistoric cultures and their tools. The Bronze Age culminated in the Iron Age, which enabled the economic expansion of mankind and led to the modern age.
The three-age classification system for human prehistory is primarily used by archaeologists and paleontologists. It provides a way of classifying human prehistory from the creation of the first stone tools to the beginning of reliable written records and the emergence of modern civilization in Europe with the Roman Empire, around 500 BC.
The famous three ages are the Stone Age (2.6 million BC to about 3500 BC), the Bronze Age (about 3500 BC to 1200 BC), and the Iron Age (1200 BC to 500 BC – 500 AD, depending on the area). In each respective era, its namesake was the main material used for human industry and tool making.
Evidence of human tool use can be found in the fertile valleys of East Africa, where mankind originated. It was then that the first part of the three age system, the Stone Age, began. The first tools were rough stone axes, first with a single shaped face, then two. Over time, a plethora of stone tools were developed, but thereafter the basic tool set did not change appreciably for many hundreds of thousands of years.
In the Late Stone Age, there was an explosion of culture and organization among mankind. Agriculture was invented, hunter gathering was progressively abandoned, and cultures flourished in Europe and Asia. From about 100,000 years onwards, humanity spread across the globe, colonizing all major continents.
The Bronze Age, the second part of our three age system, began when people in modern Turkey figured out how to smelt copper and tin, alloying them into bronze. Bronze is more durable and resistant to chemical degradation than copper or tin alone. The number of possible tools, artifacts, and weapons increased dramatically during the Stone Age. The feedback loop between the creation of the tool and its economic and social consequences has driven human progress forward at an unprecedented rate. While human culture and civilization have remained virtually the same for more than a million years, it has begun to change markedly for the first time on the timescale of centuries.
The Bronze Age culminated in the working of iron, which started the final stage of the three age system, the Iron Age, around 1200 BC. Because different cultures in different parts of the world adopted the technology at different times, the transition date is not uniform. Iron is extremely durable and easy to find, making it preferable to bronze. Iron tools enabled the economic expansion of mankind at a fantastic rate, eventually leading into the modern age. Today archaeologists carefully pour over ancient tools using modern analytical techniques, putting all of prehistory into perspective with the three age system.
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