Stone came first. Then there was bronze. Then there was iron. Since the 1800s, scholars have split early human history into three separate “ages,” according to the main materials that hominins turned into tools and weapons. But what about wood? Was there ever such an age as the “Wood Age?”
The answer is far from simple. Though there is no set period in human history that archaeologists have specifically identified as the “Wood Age,” scholars stress the sustained importance of the material across the three traditional ages of antiquity — with wood having been used extensively by hominins throughout the epochs of stone, bronze, and iron.
With that in mind, learn more about the traditional periodization of early humanity and take a look at the wooden tools and weapons whose existence — while integral to human history — has long been ignored by the established three-age system.
What Is The Three-Age System?
The three-age system is an archaeological periodization adopted in the early 1800s that sorts ancient artifacts and events into three time periods: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. Danish antiquarian Christian Jürgensen Thomsen developed the system in the 1810s while arranging an archaeological collection in Copenhagen according to the artifacts’ chronology and material makeup.
