TEHRAN – A total of ten prehistorical objects, estimated to date from the Iron Age, have recently been confiscated from two antique dealers in Chardavol county, Ilam province, western Iran.

“The police have discovered 10 objects, [estimated] to date from 4,000 years ago in the Iron Age, through its [routine] investigations in Chardavol county,” provincial tourism chief Abdolmalek Shanbehzadeh announced on Thursday, CHTN reported.

The accused persons were detained in this regard and surrendered to the judicial system for further investigation, the official noted. 

Iron Age is in fact final technological and cultural stage in the Stone–Bronze–Iron Age sequence. The date of the full Iron Age, in which this metal, for the most part, replaced bronze in implements and weapons, varied geographically, beginning in the Middle East and southeastern Europe about 1200 BC but in China not until about 600 BC, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Although in the Middle East iron had limited use as a scarce and precious metal as early as 3000 BC, there is no indication that people at that time recognized its superior qualities over those of bronze.

AFM/MG