During Iron Ages, the Central and North-West Europe is not a uniform area, many variants emerge and motor centres appear and are replaced by others. These changes are mainly interpreted in terms of trade relations and influence with the Mediterranean world economy. Iron is routinely interpreted as taking an important role in every phase of great upheaval, without having however sufficient archaeological data both in terms of production or trade of ferrous products. The first Iron Age (800-500BC) in Europe is characterised by an aristocracy of very high rank with chariot burials using more and more prestige goods and Mediterranean imports. In the interpretative models, iron is considered driving social hierarchy processes and geostrategic changes in post Bronze Age societies. Contrary to what has been already proposed, there is still no archaeological evidence that may help linking the emergence of first centralized societies to any iron ore exploitation. The hypothetical link between development of social complexity and iron production emerge actually from a convergence between the presence of historical ore mining and the appearance of burials with Mediterranean imports in the same area. More lately, from the 5th century the group Aisne-Marne and the Hunsrück-Eifel-culture, is substituting more in the north the former north-Alpine complex. The disruption of trade routes moves closer centres of political and economic power to early iron production sites. However, it is not possible to formally link the emergence of these new centres with iron production. However, no precise data are available on the trade of iron products in short, medium or long distance. The objective of this program is twofold. It has a methodological orientation in Archaeometry and discusses anthropological and historical issues related to proto-historical periods. The first objective is to exploit, to confront and develop in a complementary way both archaeometric methods for determining the origins of iron products. Indeed, recent methodological development that occurred both in German and French archaeometry laboratories allows now to envisage provenance studies for ferrous and steel archaeological artifacts. This is a real breakthrough for the issues related to Iron Age societies. The second objective is, by applying these methods, to address the two chronological periods of the Iron ages evocated previously and bring a renewed vision of trade relations and of the role of iron in each of the major changes occurring in these periods. For this, we address a specific set of archaeological material on which will be applied innovative methods for determining the origins developed in France and Germany. The archaeometric methods developed by the two teams are based on the determination of trace element chemical and isotopic (Osmium) signature of production area. Thus in a first step, this signature will be followed in ore, archaeological slag and other wastes of the operating chains found on the sites of potential production areas linked to the issue; i.e. Lorraine, Baden Wuerttemberg, Sénonais, Pays de Bray, West Bavaria. In a second step, we will analyze the chemical signature of two types of objects characteristics of these periods: bipyramidal ingots preferentially distributed in the geographical area of the northern Alps complex and tires of chariot burials representatives of ostentatious funeral deposit zones.