The
Bronze Age is a
period characterized by the use of
copper and its alloy
bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the
Stone Age and
Iron Age. The term Stone Age implies the inability to smelt any ore, the term Bronze Age implies the inability to smelt
iron ore and the term Iron Age implies the ability to manufacture artifacts in any of the three types of hard material. Their arrangement in the
archaeological chronology reflects the difficulty of manufacture in the history of technology.
During the past few centuries of detailed, scientific study of the Bronze Age, it became clear that on the whole the use of copper or bronze was only the most stable and therefore the most diagnostic part of a cluster of features marking the period. In addition to the creation of bronze from raw materials and the widespread use of bronze tools and weapons, the period continued development of pictogramic or ideogramic symbols and proto-writing and other features of urban civilization.
The ''Bronze Age'' is the 2nd principal period of the three-age system as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen for classifying and studying ancient societies. A region could be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Copper/tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact that there were no tin bronzes in western Asia before the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, but in some parts of the world, a Copper Age served as a transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. Although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze age, in some areas such as sub-Saharan Africa, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic from outside the region.
A difference between some of the Bronze Age cultures was the development of the first writings. Cultures in Egypt (hieroglyphs), the Near East (Cuneiform), but also in the Mediterranean, with the Mycenaean culture (Linear B), had viable systems of written communication. The archaeological findings are evidence of the first written sources.
History
The term "Bronze Age" is ultimately derived from the "
Ages of Man", the stages of human existence on the Earth according to
Greek mythology. Of these, the
Golden Age and
Silver Age are categorized by modern historians as mythical, but the Bronze Age as well as the
Iron Age are conceived as having a nucleus of historical validity. The overall period is characterized by the full adoption of bronze in many regions, though the place and time of the introduction and development of bronze technology is not universally synchronous. Man-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques. Tin must be mined (mainly as the tin ore
cassiterite) and smelted separately, then added to molten copper to make the bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of heavy use of metals and of developing trade networks (See ''
Tin sources and trade in ancient times'').
Near East
''Southeast Asia / Middle East''
The Bronze Age in the
Ancient Near East began with the rise of
Sumer in the 4th millennium BC. The Ancient Near East is considered by some as the
cradle of civilization and practised intensive year-round agriculture, developed a writing system, invented the potter's wheel, created a centralized government, law codes, and empires, and introduced social stratification, slavery, and organized warfare. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and mathematics.
Near East Timeline
:''Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details''
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from: -3300 till: -1200 text:Classic Bronze Age
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from: -3300 till: -1200 shift:(0,5) text:Ancient Near East
from: -3300 till: -2100 text:Early Bronze Age
from: -2100 till: -1550 text:Intermediate Bronze Age
from: -1550 till: -1200 text:Late Bronze Age
bar:Mesop. color:age
from: -2900 till: -2350 text:Sumerian city-states
from: -2350 till: -2193 text:Akkadia
from: -2119 till: -2000 text:Ur
from: -2000 till: -1700 shift:(0,5) text:Babylonia
from: -2000 till: -1800 text:Assyria
from: -1600 till: -1200 text:Kassite
bar:Egyptian color:era
from: -3150 till: -1100 shift:(0,5) text:Ancient Egypt
from: -3150 till: -2700 text:Protodynastic
from: -2700 till: -2100 text:Old_Kingdom
from: -2100 till: -1625 text:Middle Kingdom
from: -1625 till: -1100 text:New Kingdom
Age sub-divisions
The Ancient Near East Bronze Age can be divided as follows:
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bar:Phase color:era
from: 3300 till: 3000 text:EBA I
from: 3000 till: 2700 text:EBA II
from: 2700 till: 2200 text:EBA III
from: 2200 till: 2100 text:EBA IV
from: 2100 till: 2000 text:MBA I
from: 2000 till: 1750 text:MBA II A
from: 1750 till: 1650 text:MBA II B
from: 1650 till: 1550 text:MBA II C
from: 1550 till: 1400 text:LBA I
from: 1400 till: 1300 text:LBA II A
from: 1300 till: 1200 text:LBA II B
bar:Period color:age
from: 3300 till: 2100 text:Early Bronze Age (EBA)
from: 2100 till: 1550 text:Middle Bronze Age (MBA)
from: 2100 till: 1550 shift:(25,-20) text:(Intermediate Bronze Age)
from: 1550 till: 1200 text:Late Bronze Age (LBA)
bar:Age color:period
from: 3300 till: 1200 shift:(-25,0) text:Bronze Age
Mesopotamia
In
Mesopotamia, the
Mesopotamia Bronze Age begins in about 2900 BC and ends with the
Kassite period. The usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used. Instead, a division primarily based on art-historical and historical characteristics is more common. The
cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people.
Ur in the Middle Bronze Age and
Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations.
The earliest mention of Babylonia can be found in a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad, dating back to the 23rd century BC. The Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC; over 100 years later it briefly took over the others and formed the first Babylonian empire, during what is also called the Old Babylonian Period. Babylonia adopted the written Semitic Akkadian language for official use. The Sumerian language by that time was no longer a spoken language, but it was still in religious use. The Akkadian and Sumerian traditions played a major role in later Babylonian culture, and the region would remain an important cultural center, even under outside rule, throughout the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age.
Persian Plateau
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Elam was an ancient civilization located to the east of Mesopotamia. In the Old Elamite period (Middle Bronze Age), Elam consisted of kingdoms on the
Iranian plateau, centered in
Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in
Susa in the
Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a crucial role in the
Gutian Empire and especially during the
Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it.
The Oxus civilization was a Bronze Age Central Asian culture dated to ca. 2300–1700 BC and centered on the upper Amu Darya (Oxus). In the Early Bronze Age the culture of the Kopet Dag oases and Altyn-Depe developed a proto-urban society. This corresponds to level IV at Namazga-Depe. Altyn-Depe was a major centre even then. Pottery was wheel-turned. Grapes were grown. The height of this urban development was reached in the Middle Bronze Age c. 2300 BC, corresponding to level V at Namazga-Depe. It is this Bronze Age culture which has been given the BMAC name.
The Kulli culture, similar to those of the Indus Valley Civilization, was located in southern Balochistan (Gedrosia) ca. 2500 - 2000 BC. Agriculture was the economical base of this people. At several places dams were found, providing evidence for a highly developed water management system.
Konar Sandal is associated with the hypothesized "Jiroft culture", a 3rd millennium BC culture postulated on the basis of a collection of artifacts confiscated in 2001.
Anatolia
The
Hittite Empire was established in
Hattusa in northern Anatolia from the
18th century BC. In the
14th century BC, the Hittite Kingdom was at its height, encompassing central Anatolia, southwestern
Syria as far as
Ugarit, and upper
Mesopotamia. After
1180 BC, amid general turmoil in the
Levant associated with the sudden arrival of the
Sea Peoples, the kingdom disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until as late as the
8th century BC.
Arzawa in Western Anatolia during the second half of the second millennium BC likely extended along southern Anatolia in a belt reaching from near the Turkish Lakes Region all the way to the Aegean coast. Arzawa was the western neighbor, sometimes a rival and sometimes a vassal of the Middle and New Hittite Kingdoms.
The Assuwa league was a confederation of states in western Anatolia, defeated by the Hittites under an earlier Tudhaliya I around 1400 BC. Arzawa has been associated with the much more obscure Assuwa generally located to its north - it probably bordered it, and may even be an alternative term for it (at least during some periods).
Levant
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Ebla experienced an apogee lasting from ca. 1850 to 1600 BC. The first known ruler of Ebla in this period was Megum, an Ensi (governor) for
Ur III during the reign of
Amar-Sin of Ur.
Ibbit-Lim was the first attested king. Ebla is mentioned in texts from
Alalakh from ca. 1750 BC. The city was destroyed again in the turbulent period of 1650–1600 BC, by a Hittite king (
Mursili I or
Hattusili I). This is attested to only by the fragmentary Hurro-Hittite
Song of Release.
Amorite kingdoms, ca. 2000–1600 BC, arose in Mari, Yamkhad, Qatna, Assyria, Isin, Larsa, and also Babylon. This era ended in northern Mesopotamia with the expulsion of the Amorite dominated Babylonians from Assyria by King Adasi circa 1720 BC, and in the south with the Hittite sack of Babylon (c. 1595 BC) which brought new ethnic groups — particularly Kassites — to the forefront in southern Mesopotamia. From the 15th century BC onward, the term Amurru is usually applied to the region extending north of Canaan as far as Kadesh on the Orontes.
The Mitanni was a loosely organized state in northern Syria and south-east Anatolia from ca. 1500 BC–1300 BC. Founded by an Indo-Aryan ruling class governing a predominately Hurrian population, Mitanni came to be a regional power after the Hittite destruction of Kassite Babylon created a power vacuum in Mesopotamia. At the beginning of its history, Mitanni's major rival was Egypt under the Thutmosids. However, with the ascent of the Hittite empire, Mitanni and Egypt made an alliance to protect their mutual interests from the threat of Hittite domination. At the height of its power, during the 14th century BC, it had outposts centered around its capital, Washukanni, whose location has been determined by archaeologists to be on the headwaters of the Khabur River. Eventually, Mitanni succumbed to Hittite and later Assyrian attacks, and was reduced to the status of a province of the Middle Assyrian Empire.
The earliest Ugarit contact with Egypt (and the first exact dating of Ugaritic civilization) comes from a carnelian bead identified with the Middle Kingdom pharaoh Senusret I, 1971 BC–1926 BC. A stela and a statuette from the Egyptian pharaohs Senusret III and Amenemhet III have also been found. However, it is unclear at what time these monuments got to Ugarit. Amarna letters from Ugarit ca. 1350 BC records one letter each from Ammittamru I, Niqmaddu II, and his queen. From the 16th to the 13th century BC Ugarit remained in constant touch with Egypt and Cyprus (named Alashiya).
The Aramaeans are a Northwest Semitic semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who originated in what is now modern Syria (Biblical Aram) during the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Large groups migrated to Mesopotamia where they intermingled with the native Akkadian (Assyrian and Babylonian) population. The Aramaeans never had a unified empire; they were divided into independent kingdoms all across the Near East. After the Bronze Age collapse, their political influence was confined to a number of Syro-Hittite states, which were entirely absorbed into the Neo-Assyrian Empire by the 8th century BC.
Ancient Egypt
Early Bronze dynasties
In
Ancient Egypt, the Bronze Age begins in the
Protodynastic period, c. 3150 BC. The archaic ''early Bronze Age of Egypt'', known as the
Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, immediately follows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt, c. 3100 BC. It is generally taken to include the First and Second Dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period of Egypt until about 2686 BC, or the beginning of the Old Kingdom. With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from
Abydos to Memphis with a unified Egypt ruled by an Egyptian god-king. Abydos remained the major holy land in the south. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization, such as art, architecture and many aspects of religion, took shape during the Early Dynastic period.
Memphis in the Early Bronze Age was the largest city of the time.
The Old Kingdom of the regional Bronze Age is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley (the others being Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom).
The First Intermediate Period of Egypt, often described as a "dark period" in ancient Egyptian history, spanned about 100 years after the end of the Old Kingdom from about 2181 to 2055 BC. Very little monumental evidence survives from this period, especially from the early part of it. The First Intermediate Period was a dynamic time when rule of Egypt was roughly divided between two competing power bases: Heracleopolis in Lower Egypt and Thebes in Upper Egypt. These two kingdoms would eventually come into conflict, with the Theban kings conquering the north, resulting in reunification of Egypt under a single ruler during the second part of the 11th Dynasty.
Middle Bronze dynasties
The
Middle Kingdom of Egypt lasted from 2055 to 1650 BC. During this period, the
Osiris funerary cult rose to dominate Egyptian popular religion. The period comprises two phases: the 11th Dynasty, which ruled from Thebes and the 12th and 13th Dynasties which were centered around
el-Lisht. The unified kingdom was previously considered to comprise the 11th and 12th Dynasties, but historians now at least partially consider the 13th Dynasty to belong to the Middle Kingdom.
During the Second Intermediate Period, Ancient Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. It is best known for the Hyksos, whose reign comprised the 15th and 16th dynasties. The Hyksos first appeared in Egypt during the 11th Dynasty, began their climb to power in the 13th Dynasty, and emerged from the Second Intermediate Period in control of Avaris and the Delta. By the 15th Dynasty, they ruled lower Egypt, and they were expelled at the end of the 17th Dynasty.
Late Bronze dynasties
The
New Kingdom of Egypt, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, lasted from the 16th to the 11th century BC. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the
Third Intermediate Period. It was Egypt's most prosperous time and marked the peak of Egypt's power. The later New Kingdom, i.e. the 19th and 20th Dynasties (1292-1069 BC), is also known as the
Ramesside period, after the eleven pharaohs that took the name of Ramesses.
Central Asia
Caucasus
Arsenical bronze artifacts of the
Maykop culture in the
North Caucasus have been dated around the 4th millennium BC. This innovation resulted in the circulation of arsenical bronze technology over southern and eastern Europe.
Pontic-Caspian steppe
The
Yamna culture is a late copper age/early Bronze Age culture of the Southern Bug/Dniester/Ural region (the Pontic steppe), dating to the 36th–23rd centuries BC. The name also appears in English as Pit Grave Culture or Ochre Grave Culture. The
Catacomb culture, ca. 2800-2200 BC, refers to an early Bronze Age culture occupying essentially what is present-day Ukraine. It's seemed more of as an areal term to cover several smaller related archaeological cultures. The
Srubna culture was a Late Bronze Age (18th-12th centuries BC) culture. It is a successor to the Yamna culture, the Pit Grave culture and the Poltavka culture.
Seima-Turbino Phenomenon
The
Altai Mountains in what is now southern
Russia and central
Mongolia have been identified as the point of origin of a cultural enigma termed the
Seima-Turbino Phenomenon. It is conjectured that changes in climate in this region around 2000 BC and the ensuing ecological, economic and political changes triggered a rapid and massive migration westward into northeast Europe, eastward into China and southward into
Vietnam and
Thailand across a frontier of some 4,000 miles. This migration took place in just five to six generations and led to peoples from Finland in the west to Thailand in the east employing the same metal working technology and, in some areas, horse breeding and riding. It is further conjectured that the same migrations spread the
Uralic group of languages across Europe and Asia: some 39 languages of this group are still extant, including
Hungarian,
Finnish,
Estonian and
Lappish.
However, recent genetic testings of sites in south Siberia and
Kazakhstan (
Andronovo horizon) would rather support a spreading of the bronze technology via
Indo-european migrations eastwards, as this technology was well known for quite a while in western regions.
East Asia
East Asia Timeline
:''Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details''
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from: -3000 till: -2700 text:Majiayao
from: -3000 till: -2000 text:Longshan
from: -2000 till: -1550 text:Erlitou
bar:China color:era
from: -1550 till: -1046 text:Shang
from: -1046 till: -700 text:Zhōu
bar:Korea color:era
from: -1500 till: -300 text:Gojoseon
China
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Historians disagree about the dates of a "Bronze Age" in China. The difficulty lies in the term "Bronze Age", as it has been applied to signify a period in history when bronze tools replaced stone tools, and, later, were themselves replaced by iron ones. 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:
# arrival of iron smelting technology, and
# persistence of bronze objects.
The earliest bronze artifacts have been found in the Majiayao culture site (between 3100 and 2700 BC) and, from then on, the society gradually grew into the Bronze Age.
Bronze metallurgy in China originated in what is referred to as the Erlitou () period, which some historians argue places it within the range of dates controlled by the Shang dynasty. Others believe the Erlitou sites belong to the preceding Xia () dynasty. The U.S. National Gallery of Art defines the Chinese Bronze Age as the "period between about 2000 BC and 771 BC," a period that begins with Erlitou culture and ends abruptly with the disintegration of Western Zhou rule. Though this provides a concise frame of reference, it overlooks the continued importance of bronze in Chinese metallurgy and culture. Since this is significantly later than the discovery of bronze in Mesopotamia, bronze technology could have been imported rather than discovered independently in China. However, there is reason to believe that bronzework developed inside China separately from outside influence.
The Shang Dynasty of the Yellow River Valley rose to power after the Xia Dynasty. While some direct information about the Shang Dynasty comes from Shang-era inscriptions on bronze artifacts, most comes from oracle bones — turtle shells, cattle scapulae, or other bones, which bear glyphs that form the first significant corpus of recorded Chinese characters.
Iron is found from the Zhou Dynasty, but its use is minimal. Chinese literature dating to the 6th century BC attests a knowledge of iron smelting, yet bronze continues to occupy the seat of significance in the archaeological and historical record for some time after this. Historian W. C. White argues that iron did not supplant bronze "at any period before the end of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC)" and that bronze vessels make up the majority of metal vessels all the way through the Later Han period, or to 221.
The Chinese bronze artifacts generally are either utilitarian, like spear points or adze heads, or ritualistic, like the numerous large sacrificial tripods known as dings in Chinese. 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. Some large bronzes also bear inscriptions that have helped historians and archaeologists piece together the history of China, especially during the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC).
The bronzes of the Western Zhou Dynasty document large portions of history not found in the extant texts that were often 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. 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. 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.
Korean
The
Gojoseon period on the peninsula is usually said to be 1000 BC, but estimates range from the 15th to 8th centuries BC. Although the Korean Bronze Age culture derives from the
Liaoning and Manchuria, it exhibits unique typology and styles, especially in ritual objects.
The Mumun pottery period is named after the Korean name for undecorated or plain cooking and storage vessels that form a large part of the pottery assemblage over the entire length of the period, but especially 850-550 BC. The Mumun period is known for the origins of intensive agriculture and complex societies in both the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago.
The Middle Mumun pottery period culture of the southern Korean Peninsula gradually adopted bronze production (c. 700–600? BC) 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 BC). 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. Bronze was an important element in ceremonies and as for mortuary offerings until 100.
South Asia
South Asia Timeline
:''Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details''
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bar:India color:age
from: -3000 till: -1550 shift:(0,7) text:Bronze Age India
from: -3000 till: -2700 text:Early Indus
from: -2700 till: -1900 text:Mature Harappan
from: -1900 till: -1550 text:Late Harappa
Indus Valley
The Bronze Age on the
Indian subcontinent began around 3300 BC with the beginning of the
Indus Valley civilization. Inhabitants of the Indus Valley, the
Harappans, developed new techniques in metallurgy and produced copper, bronze, lead and tin. The Indian Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age
Vedic Period. The Harappan culture, which dates from 1700 BC to 1300 BC, overlapped the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age; thus it is difficult to date this transition accurately.
Southeast Asia
Dating back to the
Neolithic Age, the first bronze drums, called the
Dong Son drums, have been uncovered in and around the
Red River Delta regions of
Vietnam and Southern China. These relate to the prehistoric
Dong Son Culture of Vietnam. In
Ban Chiang,
Thailand, (
Southeast Asia) bronze
artifacts have been discovered dating to 2100 BC. In
Nyaunggan,
Burma bronze tools have been excavated along with ceramics and stone artifacts. Dating is still currently broad (3500–500 BC).
Europe
European Timeline
:A few examples of named Bronze Age cultures in Europe in roughly relative order. The chosen cultures overlapped in time and the indicated periods do not correspond to their estimated extends.
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from: -3200 till: -2850 text:Aegean Bronze
from: -2850 till: -2500 text:Corded Ware
from: -2500 till: -2150 text:Beaker
from: -2150 till: -1600 text:Unetice
from: -1600 till: -1250 text:Tumulus
from: -1250 till: -750 text:Urnfield
from: -1250 till: -600 shift:(40,0) text:Lusatian
bar:Britain color:era
from: -2700 till: -700 shift:(0,7) text:Bronze Age Britain
from: -2700 till: -2500 text:Mount Pleasant
from: -2500 till: -1900 text:Beaker
from: -1900 till: -1500 text:Bedd Branwen
from: -1500 till: -1300 text:Acton Park
from: -1300 till: -1200 shift:(0,5)text:Knighton Heath
from: -1200 till: -850 text:Urnfield
from: -850 till: -700 text:Ewart Park
bar:Scand. color:era
from: -1700 till: -500 shift:(0,7) text:Nordic Bronze Age
from: -1700 till: -1500 text:Phase I
from: -1500 till: -1300 text:Phase II
from: -1300 till: -1100 text:Phase III
from: -1100 till: -900 text:Phase IV
from: -900 till: -700 text:Phase V
from: -700 till: -500 text:Phase VI
Aegean
{|align=right
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The Aegean Bronze Age begins around 3200 BC, when civilizations first 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 tin in some Mediterranean bronze artifacts point to the fact that they may have originated from Great Britain.
Knowledge of navigation was well developed at this time, and reached a peak of skill not exceeded (except perhaps by Polynesian sailors) until 1730 when the invention of the chronometer enabled the precise determination of longitude.
The Minoan civilization based in Knossos appears to have coordinated and defended its Bronze Age trade. Illyrians are also believed to have roots in the early Bronze Age. Ancient empires valued luxury goods in contrast to staple foods, leading to famine. This may have arisen because money was concentrated in the hands of a few people, rather than due to a lack of modern accounting methods.
Aegean Collapse
Bronze Age collapse theories have described aspects of the end of the Age in this region. At the end of the Bronze Age in the Aegean region, the
Mycenaean administration of the regional trade empire followed the decline of Minoan primacy. Several Minoan
client states lost much of their population to famine and/or pestilence. This would indicate that the trade network may have failed, preventing the trade that would previously have relieved such famines and prevented illness caused by malnutrition. It is also known that in this era the
breadbasket of the Minoan empire, the area north of the
Black Sea, also suddenly lost much of its population, and thus probably some cultivation.
The Aegean Collapse has been attributed to the exhaustion of the Cyprus forests causing the end of the bronze trade. These 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.
Aegean Collapse has also been attributed to the fact that as iron tools became more common, the main justification for the tin trade ended, and that trade network ceased to function as it did formerly. The colonies of the Minoan empire then suffered drought, famine, war, or some combination of those three, and had no access to the distant resources of an empire by which they could easily recover.
The Thera eruption occurred around the Aegean Collapse, 110 km (70 miles) north of Crete. Speculation include a tsunami from Thera (more commonly known today as Santorini) destroyed Cretan cities. A tsunami may have destroyed the Cretan navy in its home harbour, which then lost crucial naval battles; so that in the LMIB/LMII event (c. 1450 BC) the cities of Crete burned and the Mycenaean civilization took over Knossos. If the eruption occurred in the late 17th century BC (as most chronologists now think) then its immediate effects belong to the Middle to Late Bronze Age transition, and not to the end of the Late Bronze Age; but it could have triggered the instability that 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 political and commercial mistakes in administering the Cretan empire.
Archaeological findings, including some on the island of Thera, suggest that the centre of Minoan Civilization at the time of the eruption was actually on Thera rather than on Crete. According to this theory, the catastrophic loss of the political, administrative and economic centre 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 BC, while the Mycenaean Greeks first enter the historical record a few decades later, c. 1600 BC. Thus, the later Mycenaean assaults on Crete (c.1450 BC) and Troy (c.1250 BC) are revealed as mere continuations of the steady encroachments of the Greeks upon the weakened Minoan world.
Central Europe
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In Central Europe, the early Bronze Age Unetice culture (1800–1600 BC) includes numerous smaller groups like the Straubing, 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 BC) 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 BC) is characterized by cremation burials. It includes the Lusatian culture in eastern Germany and Poland (1300–500 BC) that continues into the Iron Age. The Central European Bronze Age is followed by the Iron Age Hallstatt culture (700–450 BC).
Important sites include:
Biskupin (Poland)
Nebra (Germany)
Vráble (Slovakia)
Zug-Sumpf, Zug, Switzerland
The Bronze Age in Central Europe has been described in the chronological schema of German prehistorian Paul Reinecke. He described Bronze A1 (Bz A1) period (2300–2000 BC : triangular daggers, flat axes, stone wrist-guards, flint arrowheads) and Bronze A2 (Bz A2) period (1950–1700 BC : daggers with metal hilt, flanged axes, halberds, pins with perforated spherical heads, solid bracelets) and phases Hallstatt A and B (Ha A and B).
South Europe
The
Apennine culture (also called Italian Bronze Age) is a technology complex of central and southern Italy spanning the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age proper. The
Camuni were an ancient people of uncertain origin (according to
Pliny the Elder, they were
Euganei; according to
Strabo, they were
Rhaetians) who lived in
Val Camonica - in what is now northern
Lombardy - during the
Iron Age, although human groups of hunters, shepherds and farmers are known to have lived in the area since the
Neolithic.
Located in Sardinia and Corsica, the Nuragic civilization lasted from the early Bronze Age (18th century BC) to the 2nd century AD, when the islands were already Romanized. They take their name from the characteristic nuragic towers, which evolved from the pre-existing megalithic culture, which built dolmens and menhirs. The nuraghe towers are unanimously considered the best preserved and largest megalithic remains in Europe. Their effective use is still debated: some scholars considered them as monumental tombs, others as Houses of the Giants, other as fortresses, ovens for metal fusion, prisons or, finally, temples for a solar cult.
The Terramare was a Proto-Indo-European civilization which lived in the area of what is now Pianura Padana (northern Italy) before the arrival of the Celts, as well as in other parts of Europe. They lived in villages constituted of wooden stilt houses: they had a square shape, built on the mainland but generally near a stream, with roads that crossed each other at right angles. The whole complex denoted the nature of a fortified settlement. The Terramare were widespread in the Pianura Padana (specially along the Panaro river, between Modena and Bologna) and in the rest of Europe. The civilization developed in the Middle and Recent Bronze Age, between the 17th and the 13th centuries BC.
The Castellieri culture developed in Istria during the Mid-Bronze Age. It lasted for more than a millennium, from the 15th century BC until the Roman conquest in the 3rd century BC. It takes its name from the fortified boroughs (''Castellieri'', Friulian ''cjastelir'') which characterized the culture.
The Canegrate culture developed from the mid-Bronze Age (13th century BC) till the Iron Age in the Pianura Padana, in what is are now western Lombardy, eastern Piedmont and Ticino. It takes its name from the township of Canegrate where, in the 20th century, some fifty tombs with ceramics and metal objects were found.rior population who had descended to Pianura Padana from the Swiss Alps passes and the Ticino.
The Golasecca culture developed starting from the late Bronze Age in the Po plain. It takes its name from Golasecca, a locality next to the Ticino where, in the early 19th century, abbot Giovanni Battista Giani excavated its first findings (some fifty tombs with ceramics and metal objects). Remains of the Golasecca culture span an area of c. 20,000 square kilometers south to the Alps, between the Po, Sesia and Serio rivers, dating from the 9th to the 4th century BC.
West Europe
Atlantic Bronze Age
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The Atlantic Bronze Age is a cultural complex of the period of approximately 1300–700 BC that includes different cultures in Portugal, Andalusia, Galicia and the British Isles. It is marked by economic and cultural exchange. Commercial contacts extend to Denmark and the Mediterranean. The Atlantic Bronze Age was defined by a number of distinct regional centres of metal production, unified by a regular maritime exchange of some of their products.
Great Britain
In
Great Britain, the Bronze Age is considered to have been the period from around 2100 to 750 BC.
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 and 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 BC) to exploit these conditions.
Devon and
Cornwall were major sources 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.
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).
Alloying of copper with zinc or tin to make brass or bronze was practised soon after the discovery of copper itself. One copper mine at Great Orme in North Wales, extended to a depth of 70 meters. At Alderley Edge in Cheshire, carbon dates have established mining at around 2280 to 1890 BC (at 95% probability). The earliest identified metalworking site (Sigwells, Somerset) is much later, dated by Globular Urn style pottery to approximately the 12th century BC. The identifiable sherds from over 500 mould fragments included a perfect fit of the hilt of a sword in the Wilburton style held in Somerset County Museum.
Ireland
The
Bronze Age in Ireland commenced around 2000 BC, 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 BC),
Middle Bronze Age (1500–1200 BC), and
Late Bronze Age (1200 – c. 500 BC). Ireland is also known for a relatively large number of Early Bronze Age
burials.
One of the characteristic types 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 BC), Ballybeg (c. 2000 BC), Killaha (c. 2000 BC), Ballyvalley (c. 2000–1600 BC), Derryniggin (c. 1600 BC), and a number of metal ingots in the shape of axes.
North Europe
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The Bronze Age in Northern Europe spans the entire 2nd millennium BC (Unetice culture, Urnfield culture, Tumulus culture, Terramare culture, Lusatian culture) in Northern Europe lasting until ca. 600 BC. The Northern Bronze Age was a period and a Bronze Age culture in Scandinavian pre-history, c. 1700-500 BC, with sites that reached as far east as Estonia. Succeeding the Late Neolithic culture, its ethnic and linguistic affinities are unknown in the absence of written sources. It is followed by the Pre-Roman Iron Age.
Even though Northern European Bronze Age cultures were fairly late and came in existence via trade, sites present rich and well-preserved objects made of wool, wood and imported Central European bronze and gold. Many rock carvings depict ships, and the large stone burial monuments known as stone ships suggest that shipping played an important role. Thousands of rock carvings depict ships, most probably representing sewn plank built canoes for warfare, fishing and trade. These may have a history as far back as the neolithic period and continue in to the Pre-Roman Iron Age, as shown by the Hjortspring boat. There are many mounds and rock carving sites from the period. Numerous artifacts of bronze and gold are found. No written language existed in the Nordic countries during the Bronze Age. The rock carvings have been dated through comparison with depicted artifacts.
Americas
The
Moche civilization of
South America independently discovered and developed bronze smelting. Bronze technology was developed further by the Incas and used widely both for utilitarian objects and sculpture. Later appearance of limited bronze smelting in West
Mexico (see
Metallurgy in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica) suggests either contact of that region with
Andean cultures or separate discovery of the technology.
Outside the Bronze Age
Japan
The
Jōmon period lasted until 500 BC and, after the end of the period, the Japanese experienced the introduction of bronze and iron simultaneously. Chinese technologies were adopted in the Korean peninsula and spread to the Japanese. Iron was mainly used for agricultural and other tools; whereas, ritual and ceremonial artifacts were mainly made of bronze.
Africa
Although North Africa was influenced to certain extent by European Bronze Age cultures (for examples, traces of the
Bell beaker tradition are found in
Morocco), Africa did not develop its own metallurgy until the Phoenician colonization (ca. 1100 BC) of North Africa and remained attached to the
Neolithic way of life. The civilization of the Ancient Egypt, whose influence did not cover the rest of Africa, was rather an exception from this rule as regarding the whole range of ancient cultures of Africa.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, inhabitants at Termit, in eastern Niger became the first iron smelting people in West Africa and among the first in the world around 1500 BC. Iron and copper working then continued to spread southward through the continent, reaching the Cape around AD 200. The widespread use of iron revolutionized the Bantu-speaking farming communities who adopted it, driving out and absorbing the rock tool using hunter-gatherer societies they encountered as they expanded to farm wider areas of savannah. The technologically superior Bantu-speakers spread across southern Africa and became wealthy and powerful, producing iron for tools and weapons in large, industrial quantities.
In the region of the Aïr Mountains in Niger we have the development of independent copper smelting between 3000–2500 BC. The process was not in a developed state, indication smelting was not foreign. It became mature about the 1500 BC.
See also
Oxhide ingot
Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures
Middle Bronze Age migrations (Ancient Near East)
Namazga V and Altyndepe
Seafaring
Dover bronze age boat — the earliest known seagoing plank-built vessel
Ferriby Boats
Langdon Bay hoard — see also Dover Museum
Notes
References
Figueiredo, Elin (2010) "Smelting and Recycling Evidences from the Late Bronze Age habitat site of Baioes," Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 37, Issue 7, p. 1623–1634
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
Siklosy et al. (2009): Bronze Age volcanic event recorded in stalagmites by combined isotope and trace element studies. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 23/6, 801-808. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122202090/abstract
Roberts, B.W., Thornton, C.P. and Pigott, V.C. 2009. Development of Metallurgy in Eurasia. Antiquity 83, 112-122.
Additional reading
External links
Web index Bronze Age in Europe
Ancient tin: old question and a new answer
Bronze Age Experimental Archeology and Museum Reproductions
Umha Aois - Reconstructed Bronze Age metal casting
Umha Aois - ancient bronze casting videoclip
Reconstructing the Danish Trundholm Sun Chariot
Ancient bronze idol 13 cent B.C.: Northern Russia
Hypothetical reconstruction of a Lusatian culture settlement, raised using only bronze age tools - Wola Radziszowska (near Cracow) - Poland
Aegean and Balkan Prehistory articles, site-reports and bibliography database concerning the Aegean, Balkans and Western Anatolia
Downloadable article: "Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age" Li et al. ''BMC Biology'' 2010, 8:15.
Seafaring
Divers unearth Bronze Age hoard off the coast of Devon
Moor Sands finds, including a remarkably well preserved and complete sword that has parallels with material from the Seine basin of northern France
af:Bronstydperk
als:Bronzezeit
ar:عصر برونزي
an:Edat de Bronze
ast:Edá de Bronce
bn:ব্রোঞ্জ যুগ
zh-min-nan:Chheⁿ-tâng-khì Sî-tāi
ba:Бронза быуат
be:Бронзавы век
be-x-old:Бронзавы век
bo:ཟངས་ཆས་སྤྱོད་པའི་དུས་རབས།
bs:Bronzano doba
br:Oadvezh an arem
bg:Бронзова епоха
ca:Edat del bronze
cs:Doba bronzová
cy:Oes yr Efydd
da:Bronzealder
de:Bronzezeit
et:Pronksiaeg
el:Εποχή του Ορείχαλκου
es:Edad del Bronce
eo:Bronzepoko
eu:Brontze Aro
fa:عصر برنز
hif:Kans Yug
fr:Âge du bronze
fy:Brûnstiid
gl:Idade do Bronce
gan:青銅器時代
ko:청동기 시대
hi:कांस्य युग
hr:Brončano doba
id:Zaman Perunggu
is:Bronsöld
it:Età del bronzo
he:תקופת הברונזה
ka:ბრინჯაოს ხანა
kk:Қола дәуірі
sw:Zama za Shaba
la:Aetas Aenea
lv:Bronzas laikmets
lt:Bronzos amžius
li:Broonstied
hu:Bronzkor
mk:Бронзено доба
ml:വെങ്കലയുഗം
arz:عصر برونزى
ms:Zaman Gangsa
mwl:Eidade de l Bronze
mn:Хүрэл зэвсгийн үе
my:ကြေးခေတ်
nl:Bronstijd
nds-nl:Bronstied
ne:कांस्य युग
ja:青銅器時代
no:Bronsealderen
nn:Bronsealderen
oc:Edat del Bronze
pnb:کانسی ویلہ
pms:Età dël bronz
nds:Bronzetiet
pl:Epoka brązu
pt:Idade do Bronze
ro:Epoca Bronzului
rue:Бронзова доба
ru:Бронзовый век
sah:Чаҥ үйэ
sq:Koha e bronzit
scn:Etati dû brunzu
simple:Bronze Age
sk:Bronzová doba
sl:Bronasta doba
sr:Бронзано доба
sh:Brončano doba
fi:Pronssikausi
sv:Bronsåldern
tl:Panahon ng Tansong Pula
ta:வெண்கலக் காலம்
th:ยุคสำริด
tg:Асри биринҷӣ
tr:Tunç Çağı
tk:Bürünç asyry
uk:Бронзова доба
ur:کانسی دور
vi:Thời đại đồ đồng
fiu-vro:Pronksiaig
vls:Brounstyd
war:Panahon han Bronse
zh-yue:青銅時代
bat-smg:Bruonzas omžios
zh:青铜时代
![Iron Age earthworks, British camp.Flint axes, arrowheads, and flakes found in the area are attributed to early Bronze Age settlers,[27] and the 'Shire Ditch', a late Bronze Age boundary earthwork possibly dating from around 1000 BC,](http://web.archive.org./web/20120512034910/http://cdn9.wn.com/pd/58/a0/58c025e2f8215f48131cd751b7a3_medium.jpg "Iron Age earthworks, British camp.Flint axes, arrowheads, and flakes found in the area are attributed to early Bronze Age settlers,[27] and the 'Shire Ditch', a late Bronze Age boundary earthwork possibly dating from around 1000 BC,")
![Flags of the Ottoman empire on the castle walls. Finike-Gelidonya shipwreck (12th c. BC) : 1958 - 1959 ; first underwater dig in Turkey [4], showing that Near Eastern merchant ships played a much greater role in the Bronze Age than previously known.](http://web.archive.org./web/20120512034910/http://cdn1.wn.com/pd/93/85/3822902d05addbdf1e82f9e3ab1a_medium.jpg "Flags of the Ottoman empire on the castle walls. Finike-Gelidonya shipwreck (12th c. BC) : 1958 - 1959 ; first underwater dig in Turkey [4], showing that Near Eastern merchant ships played a much greater role in the Bronze Age than previously known.")
![The canal basin in Whaley Bridge on a summer's day. There is evidence of prehistoric activity in the area, including early Bronze Age standing stones,[3] burial sites[4] and the remains of a stone circle](http://web.archive.org./web/20120512034910/http://cdn7.wn.com/pd/8c/bc/f1b0c86447aca29f1efbbd7354a3_medium.jpg "The canal basin in Whaley Bridge on a summer's day. There is evidence of prehistoric activity in the area, including early Bronze Age standing stones,[3] burial sites[4] and the remains of a stone circle")
