Bronze Age: When Metallurgy Begins to Rule the World

The Bronze Age is one of the important periods in the development of human history. At that time, people began to find metallurgical and metalworking methods, contributing to making life more and more civilized and progressive.

The Bronze Age is a transitional period between the Stone Age and the Iron Age. It lasted from about the middle of the 5th millennium BC (BC) to the end of the 4th millennium BC or the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. This stage lasted for thousands of years, because it took man a long time to master the process of smelting ore and casting metal.

The Bronze Age did not begin all over the world at the same time. In many places, this is an isolated development process. When stone tools reached the highest stage of development, the appearance of a new material created many changes in the social life of people.

During this period, many new cultures were formed. The economy is growing, leading to the birth of long-distance trade routes. 'Warrior culture' is also gaining more attention, especially in Europe. In the field of archeology, the first signs of massacres, battles, and warrior burials began to appear with the rise of the Bronze Age.

Ancient people smelted copper ore to make tools and weapons.

Copper is a ductile metal, but it is much harder and more flexible than stone. Ancient people often used copper to make weapons and tools. They also found that, by adding tin to copper, the resulting metal product was harder and more durable than the original.

Archaeologists have discovered the earliest evidence of copper smelting in the Fertile Crescent, a crescent-shaped land in southeastern Turkey where civilization arose. famous Mesopotamia. The earliest traces of metallurgy in general can also be found here, particularly at the site of Yarim Tepe in present-day Iraq.

Although there was a shift from stone tools to bronze in the ancient Near East, stone tools did not completely expire. They are still essential tools for the poor.

In South Asia, the use of copper is the most characteristic sign of the famous Indus basin civilization. Researchers have discovered a number of bronze artifacts at the Bhirrana archaeological site, which has been identified as the oldest site of the Indus basin civilization. There they found arrowheads and brass bracelets.

Farther west, in present-day Pakistan, archaeologists discovered a number of notable artifacts including 12 bronze swords dating from 3000 BC to 2500 BC. They were very thin and were most likely used as tools for making pottery – a very important commodity in the Indus Valley during the Bronze Age. Locals traded pottery along extensive trade routes, extending as far as Northern Iran.

The Bronze Age played an important role in European history and the development of cultures that emerged during this period. Initially, Europe was inhabited mainly by ancient Europeans. Their indigenous culture existed long before the arrival of Indo-European speakers.

For decades, scholars agreed that the Bronze Age in Europe began around 3500 BC and lasted until 1700 BC. However, recent archaeological discoveries at a site in Serbia suggest that copper smelting in Europe occurred about 800 years earlier than previously understood. Specifically, the researchers found a copper ax and the smelters of the dominant Vinca civilization in the area. The use of copper quickly spread throughout Europe, contributing to the formation of many large walled settlements. These settlements were mainly located near large copper ore deposits.

The most prominent cultures of the Bronze Age in Europe were the Villanovan culture, the Los Millares culture on the Iberian peninsula, the Mondsee and Michelsberg cultures in Central Europe, and of course the Vinca culture. on the Balkan peninsula.

One of the key events that have provided us with a new understanding of human life in Bronze Age Europe is the archaeological discovery of Ötzi the Iceman. This mummy dates to 3300 BC but is well preserved in the icy conditions of the Alps. Next to the mummy was a bronze ax made by people of the Mondsee culture. They knew how to mix copper with arsenic to create a material called 'Mondsee Copper'.

In the Americas, copper use and related changes in metallurgical techniques occurred across different regions and time frames. In Central America, metallurgy appeared quite late, around 600 to 800 AD. In South America, the Andes civilizations figured out how to independently smelt and cast copper tools. They exchanged goods with the peoples of Central America through sea trade routes. In North America, archaeologists have found a lot of evidence of a place called the Old Copper Complex located in the Great Lakes region of present-day Wisconsin and Michigan (USA). Here, indigenous tribes mined copper ore to make tools and weapons.

In many ways, the advent of metallurgy in the Bronze Age was the defining factor in human history. Copper metal and its applications created a great change in the lives of the people of the world's first civilizations, bringing them into a new and more progressive era.

With all the social and economic changes in the Bronze Age, people began to shift to sedentary, sedentary lifestyles, instead of the nomadic hunter-gatherers in the Stone Age. Walled villages and cities also gradually became popular.

For the ancients, copper was a scarce and difficult metal to refine. As a result, the metal initially emerged as a luxury item. Over time, the increased demand for copper led to the development of mining, smelting, and copper ore refining activities. Trade networks also gradually formed to make it easier for people to exchange copper tools and utensils.