750-450 BC Early Iron Age

Northern and eastern Europe contained many different types of societies in the Early Iron Age. It was during this period that iron was first used to make tools and weapons. Iron began to be made in eastern Europe and the area north of the Alps from 800 BC, but there were few iron objects made in Scandinavia before 500 BC.

In the area north of the Alps people often lived in fortified settlements such as Biskupin in Poland, which kept people and crop stores safe. In other areas, people lived in unfortified small farmsteads and villages. Trade was an important part of the early Iron Age economy, and sites such the salt production centre of Halstatt in Austria grew in importance.

Further to the east, people led very different lifestyles. Here, nomadic horse-herding peoples from the steppes of eastern Europe, such as the Scythians, interacted with settled farming communities. Sometimes the nomadic peoples attacked and raided settled areas, but they also traded. Their communities were hierarchical, and they buried their dead with horses, many fine objects and often groups of servants. They also produced some of the finest metalwork of the period.