TEHRAN –A collection of 3,000-year-old relics, tools, and utensils, as well as the skeleton of a 35-year-old woman, are on display at Babol Archeological Museum in the northern province of Mazandaran.

Dating back to Iron Age and Bronze Age, the relics have been discovered during archeological excavations at the ancient hill of Shahneh Poshti, IRNA quoted the director of excavations, Hassan Fazeli, as saying on Thursday.

No serious research has been done so far on Iron Age and Bronze Age in the province, he said, adding that the discovery of these relics is very important and could be the beginning of more serious researches, he added.

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 West Asia and southeastern Europe about 1200 BC but in China not until about 600 BC, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Although in West Asia 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.

ABU/MG