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Bronze Age

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This article is about the archaeological era, for the era in Classical mythology see Ages of Man
For the comic book published by Image Comics, see Age of Bronze (comics)

The Bronze Age is a period in a civilisation's development when the most advanced metalworking consisted 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 is part of the three-age system for prehistoric societies. In that system, it follows the neolithic in some areas of the world. In most parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, the neolithic is directly followed by the 'iron age'.

Because of the literature presumed to have its origins in this period, the bronze age is sometimes loosely termed the heroic age.

Most surviving bronze implements are tools or weapons, though some ritual artefacts have been found.

The date of the arrival of a 'Bronze Age' varies from culture to culture. The earliest known bronze age civilisations were Sumer in Mesopotamia (in what is now Iraq), Egypt along the Nile, and the Indus Valley civilisation on the Indian subcontinent (in what is now Pakistan and northern India).


Origins

The earliest evidence of bronze metalworking dates to the mid 4th millennium Maykop culture in the Caucasus. From there, the technology spread rapidly to Mesopotamia (Sumer) and Egypt, and after some time to the Indus Valley Civilization (see Meluhha).

Asia

China's bronze age began from around 2100 BC during the Xia dynasty. In Ban Chiang, Thailand, (Southeast Asia) bronze artefacts have been discovered dating to 2100 BC [1].

The Erlitou culture, Shang Dynasty and Sanxingdui culture of early China used bronze vessels for rituals as well as farming implements and weapons [2].

The Middle Mumun Pottery Period culture of the southern Korean Peninsula gradually adopted bronze production circa 700-600 BC after a period when Liaoning-style bronze daggers and other bronze artefacts were exchanged as far as the interior part of the Southern Peninsula (circa 900-700 B.C.). Bronze was an important element in ceremonies and as for mortuary offerings until AD 100.

Aegean Bronze Age

The Aegean bronze age civilisations 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.

The Minoan civilization 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 believe that ancient empires were prone to misvalue staples in favor of luxuries, and thereby perish by famines created by uneconomic trading.

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 bread-basket 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 factos, 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 the volcanic explosion of Thera, which occurred shortly before the end of the bronze age. Thera is about 40 miles north of Crete, which was at the time the capital of the Minoan empire. 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 battles with the Mycenaean navy, so that a former colony took over the empire.

Yet another theory looks to the possible loss of Cretan expertise in administering the Empire. If this expertise was concentrated in Crete, and simply became discredited by military failure, then the Mycenaeans may have made crucial political and commercial mistakes when administering their empire.

All of these theories are persuasive, and aspects of all of them may have some validity in describing the end of the bronze age in this region.

British Bronze Age

In Great Britain, the bronze age is considered to have been the period from around 2100 to 700 BC. Immigration 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 immigrants came from the area of modern Switzerland. The Beaker people displayed different behaviours from the earlier Neolithic people and cultural change was significant although 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 ranches 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 BC) 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.

Central European Bronze Age

Bronze age weaponry

In Central Europe, the early bronze age Unetice culture (1800-1600 BC) 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 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 BC-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:

Nordic Bronze Age (1500-500 BC)

Main article: Nordic Bronze Age

In northern Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, 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 BC, 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.

Bibliography

  • Pernicka, E., G.A. Wagner, et al. "Early Bronze Age Metallurgy in the Northeast Aegean." in Troia and the troad: scientific approaches. Berlin, London: Springer; 2003. pp. 143-172. ISBN 3540437118
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