The Bronze and Iron Ages

The Bronze Age is a period in a 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. Near Eastern Bronze Age 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. The Early Bronze Age saw the rise of urbanization into organized city states and the invention of writing (the Uruk period in the fourth millennium BCE). In the Middle Bronze Age movements of people partially changed the political pattern of the Near East (Amorites, Hittites, Hurrians, Hyksos and possibly the Israelites). The Late Bronze Age is characterized by competing powerful kingdoms and their vassal states (Ancient Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Hittites, Mitanni). Extensive contacts were made with the Aegean civilization (Ahhiyawa, Alashiya) in which the copper trade played an important role. This period ended in a widespread collapse which affected much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Mddle East Iron began to be worked already in Late Bronze Age Anatolia. The transition into the Iron Age c.1200 BCE was more of a political change in the Near East rather than of new developments in metalworking. East Asian Bronze Age 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 [700600?] B.C. after a period when Liaoning-style bronze daggers and other bronze artifacts were exchanged as far as the interior part of the Southern Peninsula (circa 900-700 B.C.E.). Bronze was an important element in ceremonies and as for mortuary offerings until CE 100. Aegean Bronze Age The Aegean Bronze Age civilizations 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. Andean Bronze Age The bronze age in the Andes region of South America is thought to have begun at about 900 B.C.E. when Chavin artisans discovered how to alloy copper with tin. The first objects produced were mostly utilitarian in nature, such as axes, knives, and agricultural implements. Later on, However, as the Chavin became more experienced in bronze-working technology they produced many ornate and highly decorative objects for administrative, religious, and other ceremonial purposes, as well as household use, as decorative work in gold, silver and copper was a highly developed tradition that had already long been known to the Chavin.
Figure 1 An Andean bronze bottle made by Chim artisans from circa 1300 C.E.

The Iron Age In archaeology, the Iron Age is the stage in the development of any people where the use of iron implements as tools and weapons is prominent. The adoption of this new material coincided with other changes in some past societies often including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles, although this was not always the case. The Iron Age roughly corresponds to the stage at which iron production was the most sophisticated form of metalworking. Iron's hardness, high melting point and the abundance of iron ore sources made iron more desirable and "cheaper" than bronze and contributed greatly to its adoption as the most commonly used metal. The arrival of iron use in various areas is listed below, broadly in chronological order. Because iron working was introduced directly to the Americas and Australasia by European colonization, there was never an iron age in either location. The first signs of iron use come from Ancient Egypt and Sumer, where around 4000BC small items, such as the tips of spears and ornaments, were being fashioned from iron recovered from ancient meteorites. By 3000BCE to 2000BCE increasing numbers of smelted iron objects (distinguishable from meteoric iron by the lack of nickel in the product) appear in Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley. However, their use appears to be ceremonial, and iron was an expensive metal, more expensive than gold. The

earliest systematic production and use of iron implements appears from the 14th century BCE in the Hittite Empire though recent excavations in Middle Ganges Valley in India done by archaeologist Rakesh Tewari show iron-working in India since 1800 BC. By 1200 BC, iron was widely used in the Middle East but did not supplant the dominant use of bronze for some time. The Iron Age in Asia Indian Subcontinent Perhaps as early as 300 BC, although certainly by 200 A.D., high quality steel was being produced in southern India by what Europeans would later call the crucible technique. In this system, high-purity wrought iron, charcoal, and glass were mixed in crucibles and heated until the iron melted and absorbed the carbon. The resulting high-carbon steel, called fl in Arabic and wootz by later Europeans was exported throughout much of Asia and Europe. Near East The Iron Age in the Near East is believed to have begun with the discovery of iron smelting and smithing techniques in Anatolia or the Caucasus in the late 2nd millennium BCE. From here it spread rapidly throughout the Near East as iron weapons replaced bronze weapons by the early 1st millennium BCE. The use of iron weapons by the Hittites is believed to have been a major factor in the rapid rise of the Hittite Empire. Because the area in which iron technology first developed was near the Aegean, where Asia meets Europe, the technology propagated equally early into both Asia and Europe, aided by Hittite expansion. The Sea Peoples and the related Philistines are often associated with the introduction of iron technology into Asia, as are the Dorians with respect to Greece. It ought also be noted that the Assyrian Empire had trade contacts with the area in which iron technology was first developed at the time that it was developing. East Asia Cast-iron artifacts are found in China that date as early as the Zhou dynasty of the 6th century BC. An Iron Age culture of the Tibetan Plateau has tentatively been associated with the Zhang Zhung culture described in early Tibetan writings. In the Korean Peninsula, iron objects were introduced through trade just before the Western Han Dynasty began (c. 300 B.C.). Iron ingots became an important mortuary item in Proto-historic Korea. Iron production quickly followed in the 2nd century B.C., and iron implements came to be used by many farmers by the 1st century A.D. in Southern Korea. The Iron Age in Africa The earliest known production of steel occurred around 1400 BC in North Africa where steel was being produced in carbon furnaces. The Egyptian ruler Tutankhamen died in 1323 BC and was buried with an iron dagger with a golden hilt. Also an Egyptian sword bearing the name of pharaoh Merneptah and a battle axe with an iron blade and gold-decorated bronze haft were both found in the excavation of Ugarit. The Kushite city of Meroe near modern-day Khartoum was an important site of iron-smelting during the 5th and 6th centuries BC. The Nok civilization became the first iron smelting people in West Africa before 1000 BC. Iron and copper working then continued to spread southward through the continent, reaching the Cape around 200 A.D. The widespread use of iron revolutionized the Bantu farming communities who adopted it, driving out the stone tool using hunter-gatherer societies they encountered as they expanded to farm wider areas of savannah. The technologically superior Bantu spread across southern Africa and became rich and powerful, producing iron for tools and weapons in large, industrial quantities. The European Iron Age Iron working was introduced to Europe around 1000 BC, probably from Asia Minor and slowly spread westwards over the succeeding 500 years. Mediterranean Europe The Etruscan Iron Age was then ended with the rise and conquest of the Roman Republic, which conquered the last Etruscan city of Velzna in 265 BC. 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

A. Make a VENN Chart comparing and contrasting the Bronze and Iron Ages. Bronze Age Both Iron Age

B. Write two sentences making direct comparisons about the two ages; one a similarity the other a difference.