Iron Age
Humanity learned about the iron long before the advent of the Iron Age. Among the peoples of Western Asia in the 3rd-2nd millennium B.C.E. the iron had a reputation of a precious metal, often endowed with magical powers. It was the iron of meteorite origin. The situation began to change when people learned to make iron themselves. The production of weapons and tools from the new metal led to the displacement of similar products made from bronze.
The first written evidence of the peoples living in our region dates back to the early Iron Age. These were the works of first Greek and then Roman historians, geographers, and writers. The acquaintance of the ancient Greeks with the peoples who inhabited the steppes of South-Eastern Europe was to a certain extent due to their colonization of the northern coast of the Black Sea. The population of the Greek colonies was forced to enter into various kinds of economic and political relations with the local population, which, of course, contributed to the accumulation of knowledge among the Greeks about the life and traditions of the indigenous people. The nomads were of particular interest to the Greeks for their absolutely different lifestyle. In addition, the Greek colonies were forced to develop effective diplomacy in relation to them, since the nomads, possessing mobile military units, represented a formidable force. These peoples include the tribes of the Cimmerians, Sauromatians and Sarmatians.