Eurasia/NorthAfrican Bronze Age (~3300 to ~600 BCE)

A Eurasia/NorthAfrican Bronze Age (~3300 to ~600 BCE) is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze.

• Context:
  • It can typically follow a Stone Age in cultural development.
  • It can typically begin with the Smelting Invention of bronze alloy.
  • It can typically feature Bronze Age metallurgy to create bronze tools.
  • It can typically support Bronze Age agriculture through improved bronze farming implements.
  • It can typically enable Bronze Age warfare with bronze weapons.
  • It can typically coincide with Bronze Age urbanization in many bronze age regions.
  • It can typically establish Bronze Age trade networks for bronze material acquisition.
  • It can typically develop Bronze Age social hierarchy based on bronze production control.
  • It can typically create Bronze Age artifacts as cultural identifiers.
  • ...
  • It can often feature Bronze Age proto-writing in more advanced bronze age civilizations.
  • It can often establish Bronze Age architectural techniques for bronze age structures.
  • It can often create Bronze Age religious practices connected to bronze symbolism.
  • It can often develop Bronze Age technological innovations beyond bronze metallurgy.
  • It can often foster Bronze Age cultural exchange through bronze trade routes.
  • ...
  • It can range from being an Early Bronze Age to being a Late Bronze Age, depending on its bronze age technological development.
  • It can range from being a Simple Bronze Age Culture to being a Complex Bronze Age Civilization, depending on its bronze age social organization.
  • It can range from being a Regional Bronze Age to being a Continental Bronze Age, depending on its bronze age geographical extent.
  • ...
  • It can have different Bronze Age chronology across various bronze age regions.
  • It can transition to an Iron Age through iron smelting discovery.
  • It can preserve Bronze Age historical records through bronze age archaeological remains.
  • ...
• Examples:
  • Bronze Age Regions, such as:
    • Near Eastern Bronze Age (c. 3300-1200 BCE), characterized by bronze age urban development and bronze age writing systems.
      • Mesopotamian Bronze Age with bronze age cuneiform script.
      • Egyptian Bronze Age with bronze age hieroglyphic writing.
      • Anatolian Bronze Age with bronze age hittite civilization.
    • European Bronze Age (c. 3200-600 BCE), characterized by bronze age agricultural expansion and bronze age monumental construction.
      • Aegean Bronze Age with bronze age minoan civilization and bronze age mycenaean civilization.
      • Central European Bronze Age with bronze age urnfield culture.
      • Atlantic Bronze Age with bronze age megalithic monuments.
    • Asian Bronze Age (c. 3300-500 BCE), characterized by bronze age ritual vessels and bronze age irrigation systems.
      • Chinese Bronze Age with bronze age ritual bronzes.
      • South Asian Bronze Age with bronze age indus valley civilization.
      • Southeast Asian Bronze Age with bronze age dong son culture.
  • Bronze Age Technological Developments, such as:
    • Bronze Age Metallurgical Techniques, such as:
      • Bronze Age Lost-Wax Casting for creating bronze age decorative objects.
      • Bronze Age Alloying Methods for producing different bronze age bronze types.
    • Bronze Age Tool Evolutions, such as:
      • Bronze Age Agricultural Tools enabling more efficient bronze age farming.
      • Bronze Age Craft Tools supporting specialized bronze age artisans.
  • Bronze Age Cultural Elements, such as:
    • Bronze Age Social Structures, such as:
      • Bronze Age Elite Class controlling bronze age resources.
      • Bronze Age Trade Guilds managing bronze age metal exchange.
    • Bronze Age Artistic Traditions, such as:
      • Bronze Age Decorative Motifs on bronze age valuable objects.
      • Bronze Age Burial Practices with bronze age grave goods.
  • ...
• Counter-Examples:
  • An Iron Age, which uses iron rather than bronze as the hardest metal and typically follows the Bronze Age in technological chronology.
  • A Copper Age, which uses copper rather than bronze as the primary metal and typically precedes the Bronze Age in technological chronology.
  • A Stone Age, which uses stone tools rather than metal tools and lacks bronze metallurgy.
  • A Bronze-Working Culture within a primarily iron-working society, which represents isolated bronze technology without constituting a true bronze age.
• See: Proto-Writing, Civilization, Three-Age Stone-Bronze-Iron System, Smelting, Copper, Tin, Arsenic.

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References

2019

• (Wikipedia, 2019) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age Retrieved:2019-1-9.
  • The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, and in some areas proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, for classifying and studying ancient societies.

    An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by producing bronze by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Bronze itself is harder and more durable than other metals available at the time, allowing Bronze Age civilizations to gain a technological advantage.

    Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact that there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition. 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.

    Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing. According to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia (cuneiform script), Egypt (hieroglyphs), Indus Valley and China (glyphs) developed the earliest viable writing systems.

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