Iron emerged as a result of a crisis in tin supplies at the end of the second millennium BCE, during the Late Bronze Age. We still don't know whether this new technology originated in one place and spread outward, or developed independently in multiple locations. However, we believe that in our part of the world, iron metallurgy began somewhere in central or southeastern Anatolia (present-day Turkey) and spread westward toward Europe. From the beginning of the first millennium BCE, iron gradually entered the economy of the Balkan Peninsula. At first, the new metal was used mainly for knives, then for swords, and within a generation or two, for spearheads as well. New types of objects also appeared, such as cross-shaped axes.

During the Late Iron Age, Thracian society saw major advances in production capabilities. Iron gradually replaced bronze for tools. The rise of early Thracian states—the Odrysian, Triballian, and Getic kingdoms—came with the growth of cities and the flourishing of agriculture, livestock breeding, military affairs, crafts, and trade. Traveling craftsmen, both foreign and local, crossed Ancient Thrace in search of clients among the wealthy Thracian aristocracy. They carried invaluable skills along with their tools and raw materials. Archaeological excavations have uncovered these materials at settlements with permanent and temporary workshops, as well as at Thracian sanctuaries and burial sites (necropolises).

Skilled craftsmen in Thrace produced precious metal objects according to client commissions and contemporary fashions. Their workshops were located both along major roads and in rulers’ settlements, such as Sboryanovo and Seuthopolis. Their tools fell into four categories: instruments for initial raw material processing (adzes, axes, hammers, anvils, millstones, bellows, water vessels), instruments for crafting objects (chisels, scalpels, awls, pliers, tweezers, knives, scissors, files, lathes), auxiliary instruments (stamps, molds, dies), and measuring instruments (scales, weights, rulers, templates). The images on working stamps and dies often match those found on metal objects, which helps us identify local styles in Thracian art.

Archaeological excavations at Thracian sanctuaries have revealed agricultural, craft, and household tools. Thracians placed these items on stone altars and in pits as offerings to the gods—a practice meant to invoke divine protection and ensure abundance and fertility. Through complex rituals, everyday objects were transformed into sacred items imbued with magical properties. These included sickles, scythes, hoes, scissors, knives, mining tools, and implements for working leather, bone, wood, and metal. Such offerings provide valuable information about the trades of their donors, including miners, farmers, livestock breeders, leatherworkers, carpenters, jewelers, and metalworkers (toreuticians).