What were the most important changes in the Iron Age?

The Iron Age was important as it represented the ability
of man to forge tools and weapons from iron. Steel production did not come until a much
later date. Early tools and weapons were made of wood or copper, and later bronze when
the ability to smelt copper and tin together was developed. Bronze obviously was more
durable than either of the others. The Hittites were the first to learn the ability to
heat iron to the melting point by the use of charcoal.Iron metallurgy, developed about
1300 B.C.E., enabled the Hittites to produce more effective weapons cheaply and in large
quantities. Their method involved heating iron in a bed of charcoal and hammering it
into shape. Others had attempted to pour it into molds, which left it brittle. With the
collapse of the Hittite empire and the dispersion of Hittite craftsmen, their practice
of iron metallurgy was dispersed throughout Eurasia. Iron weapons, plus the use of
spoked wheels in their chariots which made them light weight made the Hittites fearsome
opponents.

There is some argument that the use of iron
weapons, plus their mastery of horses, led to the success of Indo-European invasions and
was a substantial factor in the feeling of superiority that is still present in many
cultures of Indo-European (Caucasian) heritage.