rautakautinen

Rautakautinen is a Finnish adjective meaning "of the Iron Age" or "iron-age-related." In Finnish archaeology and cultural history, the term is used to describe artefacts, sites, practices and motifs that are attributed to the Iron Age, the period in which iron metallurgy became widespread.

The label is applied to material culture dating to the Iron Age, distinguishing it from earlier Stone and Bronze Age contexts and from later medieval developments. It encompasses a broad range of objects and contexts, including iron tools and weapons, farming implements, ornaments and domestic items, as well as settlement patterns, fortified sites, and burial practices associated with Iron Age communities. The specific dating and regional scope vary by area, but the notion denotes a phase characterized by iron production and a corresponding reorganization of economy, trade and social structure.

In scholarship, rautakautinen is used when discussing archaeological finds or historical interpretation in Finnish sources, and is often encountered on museum labels and in excavation reports. The term is primarily a Finnish-language descriptor; in English-language scholarship the period is usually referred to as the Iron Age, with rautakautinen functioning as an equivalent adjectival term in Finnish.

Overall, rautakautinen functions as a linguistic tool to categorize and discuss material culture and societal changes associated with the Iron Age within Finland and surrounding regions.