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The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use) consists of techniques for smelting copper and tin from naturally occurring outcroppings of ore, and then alloying those metals in order to cast bronze. The Bronze Age forms part of the three-age system for prehistoric societies. In this system, it follows the Neolithic in some areas of the world. In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the Neolithic is directly followed by the Iron Age^{[citation needed]}.

Contents 1 Origins 2 Ancient Near East 3 Indian Bronze Age 4 East Asia 4.1 China 4.2 Southeast Asia 4.3 Korean peninsula 5 Aegean 6 Europe 6.1 Central Europe 6.2 Northern Europe 6.3 Caucasus 6.4 Great Britain 6.4.1 Bronze Age boats 6.5 Ireland 7 Americas 7.1 Andean Bronze Age 8 Notes 9 References 10 See also 11 External links

The place and time of the invention of bronze are controversial and it is possible that bronzing was invented independently in multiple places. The earliest known tin bronzes are from what is now Iran and Iraq and date to the late 4th millennium BCE, but there are claims of an earlier appearance of tin bronze in Thailand in the 5th millennium BCE. Arsenical bronzes were made in Anatolia and on both sides of the Caucasus by the early 3rd millennium BCE. Some scholars date some arsenical bronze artefacts of the Maykop culture in the North Caucasus as far back as the mid 4th millennium BCE, which would make them the oldest known bronzes, but others date the same Maykop artifacts to the mid 3rd millennium BCE.

The Bronze Age in the Ancient Near East is divided into three main periods (the dates are very approximate):

EBA 

Early Bronze Age (c. 3500-2000 BCE)

MBA 

Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000-1600 BCE)

LBA 

Late Bronze Age (c. 1600-1100 BCE)

Each main period can be divided into shorter subcategories such as EB I, EB II, MB II etc.

Metallurgy developed first in Anatolia, modern Turkey. The mountains in the Anatolian highland possessed rich deposits of copper and tin. Copper was also mined in Cyprus, the Negev desert, Iran and around the Persian Gulf. Copper was usually mixed with arsenic, yet the growing demand for tin resulted in the establishment of distant trade routes in and out of Anatolia. The precious copper was also imported by sea routes to the great kingdoms of Mesopotamia.

The Early Bronze Age saw the rise of urbanization into organized city states and the invention of writing (the Uruk period in the 5th millennium BCE). In the Middle Bronze Age movements of people partially changed the political pattern of the Near East (Amorites, Hittites, Hurrians, Hyksos and possibly the Israelites). The Late Bronze Age is characterized by competing powerful kingdoms and their vassal states (Assyria, Babylonia, Hittites, Mitanni). Extensive contacts were made with the Aegean civilization (Ahhiyawa, Alashiya) in which the copper trade played an important role. This period ended in a widespread collapse which affected much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.

Iron began to be worked already in Late Bronze Age Anatolia. The transition into the Iron Age c. 1200 BCE was more of a political change in the Near East rather than of new developments in metalworking.

Main article: Indus Valley civilization

The Bronze Age on the Indian subcontinent began around 3300 BCE with the beginning of the Indus Valley civilization. Inhabitants of the ancient Indus Valley, the Harappans, developed new techniques in metallurgy and produced copper, bronze, lead and tin.

Historians disagree about the dates that should be attached to a “Bronze Age” in China. The difficulty lies in the term “Bronze Age” itself, as it has been applied to signify a period in European and Middle Eastern history when bronze tools replaced stone tools, and were later replaced by iron ones. In those places, the medium of the new “Age” made that of the old obsolete. In China, however, any attempt to establish a definite set of dates for a Bronze Age is complicated by two factors: the early arrival of iron smelting technology and the persistence of bronze in tools, weapons and sacred vessels.

Bronze metallurgy in China originated in what is referred to as the Erlitou (also Erh-li-t’ou) period, which some historians argue places it within the range of dates controlled by the Shang dynasty. ^[1] Others believe the Erlitou sites belong to the preceding Xia (also Hsia) dynasty. ^[2] The U.S. National Gallery of Art website defines the Chinese bronze age as the “period between about 2000 and 771 BCE,” a period which begins with Erlitou culture and ends abruptly with the disintegration of Western Zhou rule. ^[3]. Though this provides a concise frame of reference, it overlooks the continued importance of bronze in Chinese metallurgy and culture. Iron is found in the Zhou period, but its use is minimal. Chinese literature dating to the 6th century BCE attests a knowledge of iron smelting, possibly making iron a Chinese invention, yet bronze continues to occupy the seat of significance in the archaeological and historical record for some time after this. ^[4] Historian W. C. White argues that iron did not supplant bronze “at any period before the end of the Zhou dynasty (481 BCE)” and that bronze vessels make up the majority of metal vessels all the way through the Later Han period, or through 221 CE ^[5]

Perhaps the latest dates for the end of the Bronze Age in China come from sociologist E. T. C. Werner, who argued: "In Han times (from 206 BCE) the Iron Age had hardly begun. The Bronze Age, as far as weapons are concerned, came to an end in the time of Chin and Wei dynasties [265-550 CE]." ^[6]

Thus, the idea of affixing firm dates for a bronze age in China remains one open to discussion and interpretation.

The Chinese bronze artifacts generally are either utilitarian, like spear points or adze heads, or ritualistic, like the numerous large sacrificial tripods. However, even some of the most utilitarian objects bear the markings of more sacred items. The Chinese inscribed all kinds of bronze items with three main motif types: demons, symbolic animals, and abstract symbols. ^[7] Some large bronzes also bear inscriptions that have helped historians and archaeologists piece together the history of China, especially during the Zhou period.

The bronzes of the Western Zhou period document large portions of history not found in the extant texts, and often were composed by persons of varying rank and possibly even social class. Further, the medium of cast bronze lends the record they preserve a permanence not enjoyed by manuscripts. ^[8] These inscriptions can commonly be subdivided into four parts: a reference to the date and place, the naming of the event commemorated, the list of gifts given to the artisan in exchange for the bronze, and a dedication. ^[9] The relative points of reference these vessels provide have enabled historians to place most of the vessels within a certain time frame of the Western Zhou period, allowing them to trace the evolution of the vessels and the events they record. ^[10]

In Ban Chiang, Thailand, (Southeast Asia) bronze artifacts have been discovered dating to 2100 BCE.[1]

In Nyaunggan, Burma bronze tools have been excavated along with ceramics and stone artefacts. Dating is still currently broad (3500–500 BCE). [2]

Main article: Mumun Pottery Period

The Middle Mumun pottery period culture of the southern Korean Peninsula gradually adopted bronze production (c. 700–600? BCE) after a period when Liaoning-style bronze daggers and other bronze artifacts were exchanged as far as the interior part of the Southern Peninsula (c. 900–700 BCE). The bronze daggers lent prestige and authority to the personages who wielded and were buried with them in high-status megalithic burials at south-coastal centres such as the Igeum-dong site [3]. Bronze was an important element in ceremonies and as for mortuary offerings until 100 CE.

The Aegean Bronze Age civilizations established a far-ranging trade network. This network imported tin and charcoal to Cyprus, where copper was mined and alloyed with the tin to produce bronze. Bronze objects were then exported far and wide, and supported the trade. Isotopic analysis of the tin in some Mediterranean bronze objects indicates it came from as far away as Great Britain.^{[citation needed]}

Knowledge of navigation was well developed at this time, and reached a peak of skill not exceeded until a method was discovered (or perhaps rediscovered) to determine longitude around 1750 CE, with the notable exception of the Polynesian sailors.

The Minoan civilization based from Knossos appears to have coordinated and defended its Bronze Age trade.

One crucial lack in this period was that modern methods of accounting were not available. Numerous authorities^{[citation needed]} believe that ancient empires were prone to misvalue staples in favor of luxuries, and thereby perish by famines created by uneconomic trading.

• Collapse

Main article: Bronze Age collapse

How the Bronze Age ended in this region is still being studied. There is evidence that Mycenaean administration of the regional trade empire followed the decline of Minoan primacy. Evidence also exists that supports the assumption that several Minoan client states lost large portions of their respective populations to extreme famines and/or pestilence, which in turn would indicate that the trade network may have failed at some point, preventing the trade that would have previously relieved such famines and prevented some forms of illness (by nutrition). It is also known that the breadbasket of the Minoan empire, the area north of the Black Sea, also suddenly lost significant portions of its population, and thus probably some degree of cultivation in this era.

Recent research has discredited the theory that exhaustion of the Cypriot forests caused the end of the bronze trade. The Cypriot forests are known to have existed into later times, and experiments have shown that charcoal production on the scale necessary for the bronze production of the late Bronze Age would have exhausted them in less than fifty years.

One theory says that as iron tools became more common, the main justification of the tin trade ended, and that trade network ceased to function as it once did. The individual colonies of the Minoan empire then suffered drought, famine, war, or some combination of these three factors, and thus they had no access to the far-flung resources of an empire by which they could easily recover.

Another family of theories looks to Knossos itself. The Thera eruption occurred at this time, 110 kilometers (70 mi) north of Crete. Some authorities speculate that a tsunami from Thera destroyed Cretan cities. Others say that perhaps a tsunami destroyed the Cretan navy in its home harbor, which then lost crucial naval battles; so that in the LMIB/LMII event (c. 1450 BCE) the cities of Crete burned and the Mycenaean civilization took over Knossos. If the eruption occurred in the late 17th century BCE (as most chronologists now think), then its immediate effects belong to the Middle Bronze to Late Bronze Age transition, and not to the end of the Late Bronze Age; but it could have triggered the instability which led to the collapse first of Knossos and then of Bronze Age society overall. One such theory looks to the role of Cretan expertise in administering the empire, post-Thera. If this expertise was concentrated in Crete, then the Mycenaeans may have made crucial political and commercial mistakes when administering the Cretans' empire.

More recent archaeological findings, including on the island of Thera (more commonly known today as Santorini), suggest that the center of Minoan Civilization at the time of the eruption was actually on this island rather than on Crete. Some think that this was the fabled Atlantis (a map drawn on a wall of a Minoan palace in Crete depicts an island similar to that described by Plato and similar too to the form Thera very likely had prior to its explosion). According to this theory, the catastrophic loss of the political, administrative and economic center by the eruption as well as the damage wrought by the tsunami to the coastal towns and villages of Crete precipitated the decline of the Minoans. A weakened political entity with a reduced economic and military capability and fabled riches would have then been more vulnerable to human predators. Indeed, the Santorini Eruption is usually dated to c. 1630 BCE. And, the Mycenaean Greeks first enter the historical record a few decades later c. 1600 BCE. Thus, the later Mycenaean assaults on Crete (c.1450 BCE) and Troy (c.1250 BCE) are revealed as but continuations of the steady encroachments of the Greeks upon the weakened Minoan world.

Each of these theories is persuasive, and aspects of all of them may have some validity in describing the end of the Bronze Age in this region.

Main article: Bronze Age Europe

In Central Europe, the early Bronze Age Unetice culture (1800–1600 BCE) includes numerous smaller groups like the Straubingen, Adlerberg and Hatvan cultures. Some very rich burials, such as the one located at Leubingen with grave gifts crafted from gold, point to an increase of social stratification already present in the Unetice culture. All in all, cemeteries of this period are rare and of small size. The Unetice culture is followed by the middle Bronze Age (1600–1200 BCE) Tumulus culture, which is characterised by inhumation burials in tumuli (barrows). In the eastern Hungarian Körös tributaries, the early Bronze Age first saw the introduction of the Mako culture, followed by the Ottomany and Gyulavarsand cultures.

The late Bronze Age urnfield culture, (1300–700 BCE) is characterized by cremation burials. It includes the Lusatian culture in eastern Germany and Poland (1300–500 BCE) that continues into the Iron Age. The Central European Bronze Age is followed by the Iron Age Hallstatt culture (700–450 BCE).

Important sites include:

• Biskupin (Poland)
• Nebra (Germany)
• Vráble (Slovakia)
• Zug-Sumpf, Zug, Switzerland

Main article: Nordic Bronze Age

In northern Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, Bronze Age inhabitants manufactured many distinctive and beautiful artifacts, such as the pairs of lurer horns discovered in Denmark. Some linguists believe that a proto-Indo-European language was probably introduced to the area around 2000 BCE, which eventually became the ancestor of the Germanic languages. This would fit with the evolution of the Nordic Bronze Age into the most probably Germanic pre-Roman Iron Age.

The age is divided into the periods I-VI according to Oscar Montelius. Period Montelius V already belongs to the Iron Age in other regions.

Some scholars date some arsenical bronze artefacts of the Maykop culture in the North Caucasus as far back as the mid 4th millennium BCE.

Main article: Bronze Age Britain

In Great Britain, the Bronze Age is considered to have been the period from around 2100 to 700 BCE. Migration brought new people to the islands from the continent. Recent tooth enamel isotope research on bodies found in early Bronze Age graves around Stonehenge indicate that at least some of the migrants came from the area of modern Switzerland. The Beaker culture displayed different behaviours from the earlier Neolithic people and cultural change was significant. Integration is thought to have been peaceful as many of the early henge sites were seemingly adopted by the newcomers. The rich Wessex culture developed in southern Britain at this time. Additionally, the climate was deteriorating, where once the weather was warm and dry it became much wetter as the Bronze Age continued, forcing the population away from easily-defended sites in the hills and into the fertile valleys. Large livestock farms developed in the lowlands which appear to have contributed to economic growth and inspired increasing forest clearances. The Deverel-Rimbury culture began to emerge in the second half of the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1400–1100 BCE) to exploit these conditions. Cornwall was a major source of tin for much of western Europe and copper was extracted from sites such as the Great Orme mine in northern Wales. Social groups appear to have been tribal but with growing complexity and hierarchies becoming apparent.

Also, the burial of dead (which until this period had usually been communal) became more individual. For example, whereas in the Neolithic a large chambered cairn or long barrow was used to house the dead, the Early Bronze Age saw people buried in individual barrows (also commonly known and marked on modern British Ordnance Survey maps as Tumuli), or sometimes in cists covered with cairns.

The greatest quantities of bronze objects found in England were discovered in East Cambridgeshire, where the most important finds were recovered in Isleham (more than 6500 pieces).^[11]

• Ferriby Boats
• Langdon Bay hoard - see also Dover Museum
• Divers unearth Bronze Age hoard off the coast of Devon
• Moor Sands finds, including a remarkably well preserved and complete sword which has parallels with material from the Seine basin of northern France

The Bronze Age in Ireland commenced in the centuries around 2000 BCE when copper was alloyed with tin and used to manufacture Ballybeg type flat axes and associated metalwork. The preceding period is known as the Copper Age and is characterised by the production of flat axes, daggers, halberds and awls in copper. The period is divided into three phases: Early Bronze Age (2000–1500 BCE), Middle Bronze Age (1500–1200 BCE), and Late Bronze Age (1200 – c. 500 BCE). Ireland is also known for a relatively large number of Early Bronze Age burials.

One of the characteristic type of artifact of the Early Bronze Age in Ireland is the flat axe. There are five main types of flat axes: Lough Ravel (c. 2200 BCE), Ballybeg (c. 2000 BCE), Killaha (c. 2000 BCE), Ballyvalley (c. 2000–1600 BCE), Derryniggin (c. 1600 BCE), and a number of metal ingots in the shape of axes.^[12]

The Bronze Age in the Andes region of South America is thought to have begun at about 900 BCE when Chavin artisans discovered how to alloy copper with tin. The first objects produced were mostly utilitarian in nature, such as axes, knives, and agricultural implements. Decorative work in gold, silver and copper was already a highly developed tradition, and as the Chavin became more experienced in bronze-working technology they produced many ornate and highly decorative objects for administrative, religious, and other ceremonial purposes.

1. ^ Chang, K. C.: “Studies of Shang Archaeology”, pp. 6-7, 1. Yale University Press, 1982.
2. ^ Chang, K. C.: “Studies of Shang Archaeology”, p. 1. Yale University Press, 1982.
3. ^ http://www.nga.gov/education/chinatp_pt2.shtm Teaching Chinese Archaeology, Part Two – NGA
4. ^ Barnard, N.: “Bronze Casting and Bronze Alloys in Ancient China”, p. 14. The Australian National University and Monumenta Serica, 1961.
5. ^ White, W. C.: “Bronze Culture of Ancient China”, p. 208. University of Toronto Press, 1956.
6. ^ White, W. C.: “Bronze Culture of Ancient China”, p. 208. University of Toronto Press, 1956.
7. ^ Erdberg, E.: “Ancient Chinese Bronzes”, p. 20. Siebenbad-Verlag, 1993.
8. ^ Shaughnessy, E. L.: “Sources of Western Zhou History”, pp. xv-xvi. University of California Press, 1982.
9. ^ Shaughnessy, E. L. “Sources of Western Zhou History”, pp. 76-83. University of California Press, 1982.
10. ^ Shaughnessy, E. L. “Sources of Western Zhou History”, p. 107
11. ^ Hall and Coles, p. 81–88.
12. ^ Waddell; Eogan.

• Eogan, George (1983) The hoards of the Irish later Bronze Age, Dublin : University College, 331p., ISBN 0-901120-77-4
• Hall, David and Coles, John (1994) Fenland survey : an essay in landscape and persistence, Archaeological report 1, London : English Heritage, 170 p., ISBN 1-85074-477-7
• Pernicka, E., Eibner, C., Öztunah, Ö., Wagener, G.A. (2003) "Early Bronze Age Metallurgy in the Northeast Aegean", In: Wagner, G.A., Pernicka, E. and Uerpmann, H-P. (eds), Troia and the Troad : scientific approaches, Natural science in archaeology, Berlin; London : Springer, ISBN 3-540-43711-8, p. 143–172
• Waddell, John (1998) The prehistoric archaeology of Ireland, Galway University Press, 433 p., ISBN 1-901421-10-4

• Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures
• Bronze Age collapse
• Three age system

• Web index Bronze Age in Europe
• Ancient tin: old question and a new answer
• Pretanic World - Bronze Age Britain
• Pretanic World - Bronze Age Ireland
• Bronze Age Experimental Archeology and Museum Reproductions
• Hypothetical reconstruction of a Lusatian culture settlement, raised using only bronze age tools - Wola Radziszowska (near Cracow) - Poland

Three-age system
Stone Age · Bronze Age · Iron Age
List of archaeological periods