When I was in school I learned that the stone age, was followed by the bronze age, was followed by the iron age. I took this as an evolution from inferior tsuperior materials.

However later I learned about the Bronze Age collapse and the dark age that followed. I now have the following questions:

Did the Bronze Age civilizations know Iron working?

And if yes, did they consider Iron as an inferior material for e.g. weapons (see the Illiad)?

And if bronze age society did not know Iron working how, when and where during the dark ages did iron working evolve?

I am primarily interested in the western civilizations (so not China or India). This is not a dig at these civilizations, it's just that I have minimal knowledge and I can't contextualize any answers.

Thank you very much.