The Bronze Age was a period in the
civilization's
development when the most advanced
metalworking (at least in systematic and
widespread use) 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
forms part of the three-age system for
prehistoric societies. In that 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. 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
BC, but
there are claims of an earlier
appearance of tin
bronze in Thailand in the 5th millennium
BC.
Arsenical bronzes were made in Anatolia
and on
both sides of the Caucasus by the early
3rd
millennium BC. Some scholars date some
arsenical bronze artefacts of the Maykop
culture
in the North Caucasus as far back as the
mid 4th
millennium BC, which would make them the
oldest known bronzes, but others date
the same
Maykop artefacts to the mid 3rd
millennium BC.
The Bronze Age in the Near East is
divided into
three main periods (the dates are very
approximate): • EBA - Early Bronze Age
(c.3500-2000 BC) • MBA - Middle
Bronze Age
(c.2000-1600 BC) • LBA - Late
Bronze Age
(c.1600-1200 BC) 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, Egypt, 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 Ancient Egypt and
Mesopotamia.
- (PF.2341)
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