The Iron Age was the period of antiquity in the Old World in which iron metallurgy superseded the use of bronze for tools and weapons. Iron was a far more accessible and plentiful metal, it could be produced more cheaply, it was more readily available and produced far tougher implements. In Europe the earliest iron appeared around 1100 bc, and the period lasts until the arrival of the Romans. In the Far East and North Africa, iron usage arose around 500 bc, while in southern Africa the Iron Age spans a period from about ad 200 to the 19th cent. — Dr Paul Bahn