BRONZE AGE: CHARACTERISTICS, PERIODS, TOOLS AND INVENTIONS - HISTORY

The Bronze Age is one of the periods in which the prehistory of the human being has been divided and is part of the so-called Metal Age. Its main characteristic was the use of the material that gives it its name, bronze, which allowed the inhabitants of the time to make better tools.

Classical historiography has divided the study of this period into three different stages: the ancient Bronze, the middle, and the end. However, since the use of bronze was not uniform across the planet, the chronology of this period varies depending on the geographical area.

Materials from the Bronze Age - Source: Gaguilella under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.

During the Bronze Age the first states appeared. The oldest were organized in the so-called Fertile Crescent, in the Near East. Another area in which humans developed important civilizations were the Iberian Peninsula, the Aegean Sea area and Egypt.

The society of the time began to differentiate into social classes. The improvement of weapons, thanks to the use of bronze, gave great importance to the warriors, in addition to allowing the better armed peoples to conquer the less advanced. On the other hand, trade and crafts were also promoted.

Characteristics of the Bronze Age

Map of metallurgical diffusion during the Ancient Bronze Age. Source: user Rowanwindwhistler CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

The beginning of the Bronze Age occurred when humans learned to melt tin and copper and to work with the resulting alloy: bronze.

During this stage the first civilizations appeared and, consequently, the division between social classes. Once nomadism was abandoned and learned to master agriculture and livestock, the settlements began to have a more complex structure and the cities grew and began to be fortified.

Rise of States

As noted, humans had abandoned their nomadic way of life during earlier periods. Little by little, the settlements began to grow in size and complexity.

The evolution of these settlements towards the creation of States began in Sumeria, a region of the so-called Fertile Crescent pioneer in the use of bronze. Its development, both economic and cultural, made cities begin to grow to become authentic city-states. Over time, these were uniting to form empires.

Another place where complex political and social organizations soon appeared was Egypt. The Bronze Age began in the area around 3100 BC, when Lower and Upper Egypt were unified to form a single government.

Apart from those already mentioned, the Bronze Age was also marked by the appearance of the Hittite civilization, in Anatolia, Mycenaean, in Greece, Assyria or Mesopotamia.

An important event occurred at the beginning of the 2nd Millennium BC At that time, the Phoenicians, a people of merchants, began to send their ships to the western Mediterranean. Their influence reached the Iberian Peninsula and there is evidence that they reached the British Isles.

Social position

Along with the growth of cities and the emergence of civilizations came the birth of social classes. Although these were different in each area, the warriors were one of those that gained the most power, as was the one formed by the priests.

On the other hand, those early civilizations used to own slaves, a population group without any rights.

Between the two extremes, the upper class and the slaves, were other groups. For example, artisans and metalworkers gained a lot of prestige, while peasants or ranchers had a lower status.

The b

Obtaining bronze was another of the most important characteristics of this stage, to the point of giving it a name. It is an alloy obtained from the mixture of tin and copper and whose properties made it a better material for making weapons.

The search for tin, rare in many areas, forced the peoples of the time to travel long distances. This circumstance was one of the causes of the creation of exchange networks throughout the Mediterranean and part of the Atlantic.

Economy and trade

The discovery of bronze also had an important impact on the main economic activities of the time: hunting, fishing, agriculture and livestock. All were favored by the manufacture of better tools.

In addition to bronze utensils, agriculture was also enhanced by the use of stone mills and granaries. To this must be added that horses began to be used to pull carts that allowed them to reach more distant places to trade. Other items that gained commercial weight were salt and glass.

Artisans also participated in this growth of trade. Their vessels, jugs, bowls, decorative objects and weapons were not only useful for traders, but were also exchanged for other products.

Language and communication

This was the time when the first attempts to create written communication appeared. At first they were very basic systems, but over time they began to gain in complexity.

Funeral rites

Religion became more important during the Bronze Age, as evidenced by the fact that priests belonged to the top of the social pyramid.

One of the areas in which this growing importance was most noted was in funeral rituals. These were evolving over time, since at the beginning of the era the normal thing was the collective tombs.

Later, the dead began to have a different treatment according to the social class to which they belonged. The grave goods show that the most powerful were buried within the towns, in places full of symbolism.

Another novelty that appeared in many areas was the burials in megalithic monuments. Finally, cremations also became frequent.

War

Although it is known that war conflicts occurred previously, these intensified during the Bronze Age. Both city-states and empires formed important armies to defend their lands or tried to conquer others.

Technical advances were one of the most important factors in making these clashes more frequent. Thus, the soldiers had short weapons, javelins and bows. On the other hand, horse-drawn war chariots were also used.

In addition, at this time they began to produce sieges to the cities that had been walled. This caused that siege machines were built to be able to assault the fortifications.

Periods

Common ax from the Bronze Age. Source: user Maksim CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

The Bronze Age has been divided into three different periods, each with its own characteristics. However, the chronology of these periods varies enormously depending on the area of the planet and when the bronze work began.

Ancient Bronze Age

With important differences depending on the area of the world, it is considered that this first stage ranged from 1500 to 1200 BC. The civilizations of this period were dedicated to hunting and fishing, although with a growing presence of agriculture and livestock.

Similarly, human beings of the time began to trade in products made by artisans, including metal. Among the latter, the bronze ax stood out.

Finally, the peoples of this period used to bury their dead in mass graves, many of them under the houses themselves.

Middle Bronze Age

The second period of the Bronze Age developed between 1200 and 1000 BC, with the aforementioned regional differences.

Civilizations gave a considerable boost to their commercial activity and extended the distances traveled. These trips also served to search for metal, especially the coveted tin.

Armies became more powerful thanks to the development of new metal weapons. Some of these, made of bronze, were swords, knives and daggers.

The cities, finally, gained in complexity and buildings began to be built inside the settlements.

Late or late Bronze Age

The last stage of the Bronze Age lasted until 900 BC, when it gave way to the Iron Age. It was in this period that the first great civilizations appeared, with much more complex social, economic and military structures. These towns became authentic empires that, with time, dominated great extensions of land.

In the economic sphere, these civilizations took advantage of the potential granted by the elaboration of new weapons, the extension in the use of the stone mill and the construction of granaries. In addition, merchants began to sell items such as salt and glass.

One of the most characteristic aspects of this period was the construction of defensive walls in the settlements. The improvement in the equipment of the armies caused that the cities looked for better ways to defend themselves.

Already at the end of the Bronze Age there were massive migrations in some areas. Some empires disappeared and were replaced by others. Likewise, new cultures developed, such as the Celtic, whose importance grew during the Iron Age.

Tools and inventions

Ax from the Bronze Age. Source: Didier Descouens CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

The Bronze Age brought with it the improvement of many tools and the invention of others. In addition to those related to agricultural work, he highlighted the manufacture of weapons. These increased their effectiveness and resistance and became a very important factor in the creation of empires.

Despite the importance of bronze and other metals, their use did not mean that ancient materials, such as stone or bone, were no longer common. At first, the metal was reserved to make luxury objects or that were intended for the upper classes. The exception, as noted, was weapons.

Agricultural tools

The discovery of how to produce bronze meant that the tools dedicated to agriculture improved significantly. The greater resistance of the new material was decisive for production to increase and, therefore, for surpluses to begin to be produced that could be used for trade.

Weapons of war

As has been noted, bronze was a much more suitable material for the manufacture of weapons, although this industry reached its greatest development during the next stage, that of iron.

During the Bronze Age, however, humans perfected their weapons by including metal in their manufacture. The bronze ax or swords became decisive factors when it came to undertaking conquests over peoples who had not yet discovered how to work this metal.

Another element that appeared in this period was the cuirass. This defensive element was made of metal scales and were used by both soldiers and horses.

Chariots of war

Special mention deserves the use of war chariots. These were drawn by horses and became essential elements in battles. Thus, during confrontations, it was common for tanks to charge against infantry or other tanks.

This was not the only use for chariots. They were also used as a portable platform to launch arrows and as a means of capturing enemy soldiers who tried to flee.

Household products

The artisans were one of the groups that gained prestige during this stage. Their elaborations gained in quality and began to be used regularly in homes.

Until then, handicraft work had been closely linked to ornamental elements, but in this period items such as pots and vases became more common. The artisans also began to trade their creations, something that had an impact on the strengthening of trade.

Transport

The need to seek tin in other lands and the growth of commercial activity led to the emergence of new means of transport. The most prominent was the horse-drawn cart, followed by the improvement of shipping.

Bronze Age in Europe

Bronze Age Cup of the Argaric culture. Source: Luis García (Zaqarbal) CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Experts have not reached a consensus on the chronology of the Bronze Age in Europe. In general, it is pointed out that it began around the end of the III millennium BC. C. and that ended on the VIII century BC. C.

This stage was not homogeneous throughout the continent, since it developed differently in the Aegean Sea area and in the rest of Europe.

Bronze Age in the Aegean

In the Aegean Sea area, the Bronze Age had three important foci: the Cyclades islands, where the Cycladic developed, mainland Greece, with the Helladic, and the Minoan of Crete.

Despite these differences, the various peoples of the Aegean had already developed commercial and cultural relations during the Copper Age. This was enhanced thanks to advances in navigation, which allowed the colonization of hitherto uninhabited islands.

The wealth created with trade led to the emergence of wealthy social classes, which soon monopolized political power. The result was the creation of city-states that extended their dominions to nearby rural areas.

A series of fires destroyed many of the settlements created around 2500 BC. Only Crete managed to stay safe from subsequent decline and took advantage to acquire power over the Cycladic and continental peoples.

In the Middle Bronze Age, the Cretan Minoans developed their civilization dramatically. Their dominance of the seas turned their civilization into a thalassocracy and their trade routes reached the entire Middle East and Egypt. It was also then that they improved their writing system.

This splendor lasted until 1450 BC. C. when the Cretan settlements were destroyed and abandoned. The Minoan civilization was replaced by the Mycenaean.

The arrival of this new civilization marked the passage to the late Bronze Age, based on mainland Greece. The Mycenaeans were a warrior people and they fortified their cities. This caused the appearance of a dominant social class formed by the warriors. In 1200 a. C. the Mycenaean civilization abruptly disappeared.

Bronze Age in the Iberian Peninsula

The end of the Copper Age had meant a huge crisis in the peoples of the Iberian Peninsula. Some of the most important cultures, such as the Thousands, were destroyed and the population declined.

At the beginning of the Bronze Age, the Argaric culture, one of the most important in the continent, developed in the south of the peninsula. Their society was highly specialized, which caused notable differences between the various classes. They stood out, among other things, for their metallurgical production.

This culture is responsible for the creation of one of the most characteristic objects of the Bronze Age in that area of Europe: the bell-shaped vase. This was a luxury item that was used in funeral rituals.

The Argar culture began to decline from 1650 BC. C. The causes were the decrease in harvests and some social conflicts. The final decline came about 1500 BC. C.

With the disappearance of this culture and that of Las Motillas, linked to the previous one but further north, a new civilization appeared, Las Cogotas. In this case it was a cattle town that was spreading throughout the plateau.

Bronze Age in the rest of Europe

The alloy that gave rise to bronze was slow to be known in the rest of Europe. On the continent, the main activity at the beginning of the Bronze Age was agriculture, whose production grew thanks to the use of the cart and the plow. This caused trade to become more important.

In central Europe bronze did not arrive until 1800 BC. C, approximately. Two important cultures appeared in that area: the Unetice and the Ottomani. The first were located in present-day Germany, part of Poland and the Czech Republic and traded with the Nordics and the Mycenaeans.

For their part, the latter lived in the Balkans and managed to acquire great mastery in handling horses. These peoples were very warlike and developed an important arms industry.

Important cultural groups, such as those from Wessex, also appeared in the British Isles. Among his achievements are the construction of megalithic monuments and the creation of trade routes that covered the entire continent.

Bronze Age in Africa

Bronze head of a girl with headdress of coral beads. Benin, West Africa. Source: British Museum. Dept. of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography. Public Domain File

Within the periodization of prehistory, it is considered that Africa barely lived through the Bronze Age. The exception was Egypt, one of the great civilizations of the time.

Egypt

Bronze appeared in Ancient Egypt during the so-called Protodynamic period, around 3150 BC. However, stone continued to be the most widely used raw material, especially due to the scarcity of the metals necessary to obtain the alloy.

In 3100 a. C, Upper and Lower Egypt were unified and the Tinite Era began. During this the capital became located in Memphis and the administration began to develop. In the field of culture, this period is called Naqada III.

During this time, the Egyptians began to use hieroglyphs as a writing system. Similarly, sailing was developed and the first graphic narratives appeared.

Rest of africa

In the rest of North Africa, the so-called Maghreb, there was some influence from the peoples of southern Europe. Thus, archaeologists have found characteristic objects of the Iberian Peninsula in Morocco, such as bell-shaped vessels. However, the area did not begin to work with bronze until the arrival of the Phoenicians, around 1100 BC. C.

As noted, the rest of the continent continued to lead a lifestyle equal to that of the Neolithic. This lasted until they began to work iron, without going through the Bronze Age.

Bronze Age in Asia

Bronze vessel "Gefuding Gui", late Shang dynasty, Shanghai Museum. Source: Shanghai Museum, By Mountain CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Although the Asian continent did go through the Bronze Age, it did not develop equally throughout its territory. The differences between Mesopotamia and the Near East, places where powerful empires were born, with the rest are very important.

In this sense, one of the most followed theories affirms that bronze was discovered in Sumeria, at the end of the IV millennium BC. This area had also been the cradle of agriculture and would be where the first written communication systems would appear. In addition, it was an important scientific center and, finally, the place where the first legal codes would be drawn up.

Mesopotamia

As has been pointed out, Sumeria is considered as the area of the planet in which civilization arose. Its development caused the first centralized governments to appear and their society quickly became hierarchical. These first cities, in which the warriors enjoyed great recognition, gradually conquered territories until they became empires.

Unlike what happened in Europe, Mesopotamian cities were home to a large population at the time. At the top of his rule there used to be a priest-king, owner of all the lands. Thus, the temple was the main center of power, since it housed religious, economic and political power.

One of the findings that allowed the advancement of these cities was writing. This tool allowed long-term planning, be it works or events.

The first large dominant city in the area was Uruk. Several temples had been built in it and its inhabitants used elements such as the plow, the wheel or navigation.

Later, already in a period in which governments had been formed that covered more territories, the dominant power was the Akkadian Empire. This, in turn, was replaced by the Sumerians themselves, who managed to regain its splendor for some time.

Special mention deserves the following Mesopotamian power: Babylon. Its moment of greatest power occurred in the 18th century BC. C., under the government of King Hammurabi. This monarch managed, by force and diplomacy, to dominate the entire Mesopotamian region. To administer that territory he promulgated an important legislative body, the Code of Hammurabi.

Near East

The Middle East area took advantage of the trade routes with Mesopotamia to develop economically and socially. Its first major city-states were Ebla and Ugarit, major trading centers.

The first of them, located in Syria, traded mainly with the Mesopotamians. The end of its influence came when the Acadians destroyed it in the XXIII century BC. C., although it managed to recover a little during the XIX and XVII centuries a. C.

Ugarit, on the other hand, maintained contacts with Egypt from 1956 a. It was a city with a commercial port, which allowed it to establish commercial relations with Anatolia, Egypt itself, Syria and Cyprus.

The first major empire arose in the 18th century, the Hittite, with its capital at Hattusa. During its time of splendor, about the fourteenth century BC. C., this empire dominated the entire center of the Anatolian peninsula (modern Turkey), southern Syria and upper Mesopotamia.

The exit to the Mediterranean Sea was fundamental for the empires and cities of the time to establish communication and trade routes. To get the most out of it, the towns in the area improved their boat-building techniques. In them they transported their agricultural surpluses, tools and weapons.

South and East Asia

At the other end of Asia, in the Indus Valley, some cultures also emerged after learning how to obtain bronze. Harappa and other similar cities were characterized by advances in metallurgy and their dominance in smelting lead, copper, and tin.

Experts have not agreed on when the Bronze Age began in China. According to the findings, the first uses of this metal occurred in the middle of the second millennium BC, although a current historiography affirms that it was before that date.

What does exist consensus is that bronze became a material of great importance in the region. Furthermore, it is known that its discovery was made in the area and was not due to outside influences.

Other Asian areas, such as present-day Thailand or Korea, also used bronze to make tools. In the first case, remains dated to 2100 BC have been discovered, while in the second the use of bronze began about a thousand years later.

Finally, Japan began working with bronze and iron at the same time, already in the second half of the first millennium BC. In this case, it seems that the knowledge to practice metallurgy came from Korea.

Bronze Age in pre-Columbian America

Neolithic or early Bronze Age or modern Native American flint arrowhead. Source: Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

Unlike in other parts of the planet, metallurgy did not have the same importance in America as an element of development of the peoples. The dates of its introduction in the continent are also in question, since there is no scientific consensus.

According to some experts, arsenical copper began to be used during the Middle Andean Horizon. According to this thesis, the Tiahuanaco culture would have been the one that most used an alloy similar to bronze, first, and later the authentic bronze itself, around 800 AD. C.

However, other authors do not agree with this dating. This scientific current affirms that the use of arsenic copper did not begin until a century later, in the Chimú period. For these, it was the Incas who began to work regularly with bronze.

An interesting find occurred in western Mexico. Some objects made of bronze appeared there, which may mean that there was contact with the Andean peoples.

Tiahuanaco culture

As has been pointed out, some authors consider that the Tiahuanaco culture was the first to work with bronze in pre-Columbian America. This people inhabited the area today occupied by Bolivia, Argentina, Peru and Chile during the years 1580 BC. C. and 1187 d. C.

Tiahuanaco established a series of exchange routes with other peoples of the highlands and the valley. Likewise, they also maintained commercial relations with southern Peru and with Cochabamba.

Their economic base was livestock and agriculture and their society was stratified. Thus the lower classes, like the laborers, were servants of the higher.

Although they developed metallurgical activities, the importance of this was much less than, for example, livestock or war. Their most used materials were gold and silver, materials with which they made ornaments. Other metals, such as copper or bronze, were used to make tools and weapons.

References

Marino, Alejo. Bronze Age. Retrieved from historiando.org
Ancient world. Bronze Age. Obtained from mundoantiguo.net
EcuRed. Bronze age. Obtained from ecured.cu
History.com Editors. Bronze Age. Retrieved from history.com
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Bronze Age. Retrieved from britannica.com
Gill, NS The Bronze Age. Retrieved from thoughtco.com
Mark, Joshua J. Bronze Age Collapse. Retrieved from ancient.eu
Johnston, Grahame. The Early Bronze Age. Retrieved from archaeologyexpert.co.uk
Crawford, Benna. Tools & Weapons Created During the Bronze Age. Retrieved from theclassroom.com

BRONZE AGE: CHARACTERISTICS, PERIODS, TOOLS AND INVENTIONS - HISTORY - 2024