Historical period (c. 3300?1200 BC)
The
Bronze Age
is a historical period lasting from approximately 3300 to 1200 BC. It is characterized by the use of
bronze
, the use of writing in some areas, and other features of early urban
civilization
. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of the
three-age system
, between the
Stone
and
Iron Ages
.
[1]
This system was proposed in 1836 by
Christian Jurgensen Thomsen
for classifying and studying ancient societies and history. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the
Neolithic
period, with the
Chalcolithic
serving as a transition.
The Bronze Age is generally considered to have come to a close with the
Late Bronze Age collapse
, a time of widespread
societal collapse
between
c.
1200
and 1150 BC. This collapse affected a large area of the
Eastern Mediterranean
, including
North Africa
and
Southeast Europe
, as well as the
Near East
, in particular
Egypt
,
eastern Libya
, the
Balkans
, the
Aegean
,
Anatolia
, and the
Caucasus
. It was sudden, violent, and culturally disruptive for many Bronze Age civilizations, and it brought a sharp economic decline to regional powers, most notably ushering in the
Greek Dark Ages
.
An ancient civilization is deemed to be part of the Bronze Age if it either produced bronze by
smelting
its own
copper
and
alloying
it with
tin
,
arsenic
, or other metals, or traded other items for bronze from producing areas elsewhere.
Bronze Age civilizations gained a technological advantage due to bronze's harder and more durable properties than other metals available at the time. While terrestrial
iron
is naturally abundant, the higher temperature required for smelting, 1,250 °C (2,280 °F), in addition to the greater difficulty of working with the metal, placed it out of reach of common use until the end of the second millennium BC. Tin's lower melting point of 232 °C (450 °F) and copper's relatively moderate melting point of 1,085 °C (1,985 °F) placed both these metals within the capabilities of Neolithic
pottery
kilns
, which date back to 6,000 BC and were able to produce temperatures of at least 900 °C (1,650 °F).
[2]
Copper and tin ores are rare since there were no tin bronzes in
West Asia
before trading in bronze began in the
3rd millennium BC
.
Bronze Age cultures were the first to
develop writing
. According to archaeological evidence, cultures in
Mesopotamia
, which used
cuneiform
script, and
Egypt
, which used
hieroglyphs
, developed the earliest practical writing systems.
Metal use
[
edit
]
The Bronze Age is characterized by the widespread use of
bronze
, even if only by elites in the early years, though the introduction and development of bronze technology were not universally synchronous.
[3]
Tin bronze technology requires systematic techniques: tin must be mined (mainly as the tin ore
cassiterite
) and smelted separately, then added to hot copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of extensive use of metals and of development of trade networks. A 2013 report suggests that the earliest tin-alloy bronze was a
foil
dated to the mid-5th millennium BC from a
Vin?a culture
site in
Plo?nik
,
Serbia
, although this culture is not conventionally considered part of the Bronze Age;
[4]
however, the dating of the foil has been disputed.
[5]
[6]
Near East
[
edit
]
West Asia
and the
Near East
were the first regions to enter the Bronze Age, beginning with the rise of the
Mesopotamian
civilization of
Sumer
in the mid-4th millennium BC. Cultures in the ancient Near East practised intensive year-round agriculture, developed
writing systems
, invented the
potter's wheel
, created
centralized governments
(usually in the form of
hereditary monarchies
), written law codes,
city-states
and nation-states and empires, embarked on advanced architectural projects, introduced
social stratification
, economic and civil administration,
slavery
, and practised organized
warfare
, medicine, and religion. Societies in the region laid the foundations for
astronomy
,
mathematics
, and
astrology
.
The following dates are approximate. For details, consult linked articles.
Near East Bronze Age divisions
[
edit
]
The Bronze Age in the Near East can be conveniently divided into Early, Middle and Late periods. The dates and phases below are applicable solely to the Near East, not universally.
[7]
[8]
[9]
However, some archaeologists propose a "high chronology" which extend periods such as Intermediate Bronze Age by 300 to 500?600 years, based on material analysis of
southern Levantine
cities such as
Hazor
,
Jericho
and
Beit She'an
.
[10]
- Early Bronze Age (EBA): 3300?2100 BC
- 3300?3000: EBA I
- 3000?2700: EBA II
- 2700?2200: EBA III
- 2200?2100: EBA IV
- Middle Bronze Age (MBA) or Intermediate Bronze Age (IBA): 2100?1550 BC
- 2100?2000: MBA I
- 2000?1750: MBA II A
- 1750?1650: MBA II B
- 1650?1550: MBA II C
- Late Bronze Age (LBA): 1550?1200 BC
Anatolia
[
edit
]
The
Hittite Empire
was established during the 18th century BC in
Hattusa
, northern
Anatolia
. In the 14th century BC, the Hittite Kingdom at its height, encompassed central Anatolia, southwestern Syria as far as
Ugarit
, and upper
Mesopotamia
. After 1180 BC, amid general turmoil in the
Levant
, which is conjectured to have been associated with the sudden arrival of the
Sea Peoples
.
[11]
[12]
The kingdom disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived into the 8th century BC.
Arzawa
in Western Anatolia, during the second half of the
second millennium BC
, likely extended along southern Anatolia in a belt from near the
Turkish Lakes Region
to the
Aegean
coast.
Arzawa
was the western neighbour of the
Middle and New Hittite Kingdoms
, at times a rival and, at other times, a vassal.
The
Assuwa league
was a confederation of states in western Anatolia defeated by the Hittites under the earlier
Tudhaliya I
, around 1400 BC. Arzawa has been associated with the much more obscure
Assuwa
generally located to its north. It probably bordered it, and may even have been an alternative term for it (at least during some periods).
Egypt
[
edit
]
Early Bronze dynasties
[
edit
]
In
Ancient Egypt
, the Bronze Age began in the
Protodynastic Period
,
c.
3150 BC. The archaic
Early Bronze Age of Egypt
, known as the
Early Dynastic Period of Egypt
,
[13]
[14]
immediately followed the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt,
c.
3100 BC. It is generally taken to include the
First
and
Second Dynasties
, lasting from the Protodynastic Period until about 2686 BC, or the beginning of the
Old Kingdom
. With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from
Abydos
to Memphis with a unified Egypt ruled by an Egyptian god-king. Abydos remained the major holy land in the south. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization, such as art, architecture, and religion, took shape in the Early Dynastic Period.
Memphis
in the Early Bronze Age was the largest city of the time. The Old Kingdom of the regional Bronze Age
[13]
is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egyptian civilization attained its first continuous peak of complexity and achievement?the first of three "Kingdom" periods which mark the high points of civilization in the
lower Nile Valley
(the others being the
Middle Kingdom
and the
New Kingdom
).
The
First Intermediate Period of Egypt
,
[15]
often described as a "dark period" in ancient Egyptian history, spanned about 100 years after the end of the Old Kingdom from about 2181 to 2055 BC. Very little monumental evidence survives from this period, especially from the early part of it. The First Intermediate Period was a dynamic time when the rule of Egypt was roughly divided between two competing for power bases:
Heracleopolis
in Lower Egypt and
Thebes
in Upper Egypt. These two kingdoms eventually came into conflict, and the Theban kings conquered the north, reunifying Egypt under a single ruler during the second part of the
Eleventh Dynasty
.
Nubia
[
edit
]
The Bronze Age in
Nubia
started as early as 2300 BC.
[16]
Egyptians introduced copper smelting to the Nubian city of
Meroe
in modern-day
Sudan
around 2600 BC.
[17]
A furnace for bronze casting found in
Kerma
dated to 2300?1900 BC.
[16]
Middle Bronze dynasties
[
edit
]
The
Middle Kingdom of Egypt
lasted from 2055 to 1650 BC. During this period, the
Osiris funerary cult
rose to dominate Egyptian popular religion. The period comprises two phases: the 11th Dynasty, which ruled from Thebes and the
12th
[18]
and
13th Dynasties
centred on
el-Lisht
. The unified kingdom was previously considered to comprise the 11th and 12th Dynasties, but historians now consider at least part of the 13th Dynasty to have belonged to the Middle Kingdom.
During the
Second Intermediate Period
,
[19]
Ancient Egypt fell into disarray a second time between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom, best known for the
Hyksos
, whose reign comprised the
15th
and
16th dynasties
. The Hyksos first appeared in Egypt during the 11th Dynasty, began their climb to power in the 13th Dynasty, and emerged from the Second Intermediate Period in control of
Avaris
and the
Delta
. By the 15th Dynasty, they ruled lower Egypt, and they were expelled at the end of the
17th Dynasty
.
Late Bronze dynasties
[
edit
]
The
New Kingdom of Egypt
, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, lasted from the 16th to the 11th century BC. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the
Third Intermediate Period
. It was Egypt's most prosperous time and marked the peak of Egypt's power. The later New Kingdom, i.e. the
19th
and
20th Dynasties
(1292?1069 BC), is also known as the
Ramesside period
, after the eleven pharaohs who took the name of Ramesses.
Iranian plateau
[
edit
]
Elam
was a
pre-Iranian
ancient civilization located east of Mesopotamia. In the Old Elamite period (Middle Bronze Age), Elam consisted of kingdoms on the
Iranian Plateau
, centred in
Anshan
, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centred in
Susa
in the
Khuzestan
lowlands. Its culture played a crucial role in the
Gutian Empire
and especially during the
Iranian
Achaemenid dynasty
that succeeded it.
The
Oxus civilization
[20]
was a Bronze Age
Central Asian
culture dated to
c.
2300?1700 BC and centred on the upper
Amu Darya
(Oxus). In the Early Bronze Age, the culture of the
Kopet Dag
oases and
Altyndepe
developed a proto-urban society. This corresponds to level IV at
Namazga-Tepe
. Altyndepe was a major centre even then. Pottery was wheel-turned. Grapes were grown. The height of this urban development was reached in the Middle Bronze Age
c.
2300 BC, corresponding to level V at Namazga-Depe.
[21]
This Bronze Age culture is called the
Bactria?Margiana Archaeological Complex
(BMAC).
The
Kulli culture
,
[22]
[23]
similar to that of the
Indus Valley civilisation
, was located in southern
Balochistan
(Gedrosia)
c.
2500?2000 BC. The economy was agricultural. In several places, dams were found, providing evidence for a highly developed water management system.
Konar Sandal
is associated with the hypothesized "
Jiroft culture
", a 3rd-millennium-BC culture postulated based on a collection of artefacts confiscated in 2001.
Levant
[
edit
]
In modern scholarship, the chronology of the Bronze Age Levant is divided into:
- Early/Proto Syrian; corresponding to the Early Bronze.
- Old Syrian; corresponding to the Middle Bronze.
- Middle Syrian; corresponding to the Late Bronze.
The term Neo-Syria is used to designate the early
Iron Age
.
[24]
The old Syrian period was dominated by the
Eblaite first kingdom
,
Nagar
and the
Mariote second kingdom
. The
Akkadians
conquered large areas of the Levant and were followed by the
Amorite kingdoms
,
c.
2000?1600 BC, which arose in
Mari
,
Yamhad
,
Qatna
, and
Assyria
.
[25]
From the 15th century BC onward, the term
Amurru
is usually applied to the region extending north of
Canaan
as far as
Kadesh
on the
Orontes River
.
The earliest-known contact of
Ugarit
with Egypt (and the first exact dating of Ugaritic civilization) comes from a
carnelian
bead identified with the Middle Kingdom pharaoh
Senusret I
, 1971?1926 BC. A
stela
and a statuette of the Egyptian pharaohs
Senusret III
and
Amenemhet III
have also been found. However, it is unclear when they got to Ugarit. In the
Amarna letters
, messages from Ugarit
c.
1350 BC written by
Ammittamru I
,
Niqmaddu II
, and his queen, have been discovered. From the 16th to the 13th century BC, Ugarit remained in constant touch with Egypt and Cyprus (
Alashiya
).
Mitanni
was a loosely organized state in northern Syria and south-east Anatolia from
c.
1500?1300 BC. Founded by an
Indo-Aryan
ruling class that governed a predominantly
Hurrian
population, Mitanni came to be a regional power after the Hittite destruction of
Kassite
Babylon
created a power vacuum in Mesopotamia. At its beginning, Mitanni's major rival was Egypt under the
Thutmosids
. However, with the ascent of the Hittite empire, Mitanni and Egypt allied to protect their mutual interests from the threat of Hittite domination. At the height of its power during the 14th century BC, it had outposts centred on its capital,
Washukanni
, which archaeologists have located on the headwaters of the
Khabur River
. Eventually, Mitanni succumbed to the Hittites and later
Assyrian
attacks, eventually being reduced to a province of the
Middle Assyrian Empire
.
The
Israelites
were an
ancient Semitic-speaking people
of the
Ancient Near East
who inhabited part of Canaan during the
tribal and monarchic periods
(15th to 6th centuries BC),
[26]
[27]
[28]
[29]
[30]
and lived in the region in smaller numbers after the fall of the monarchy. The name "Israel" first appears
c.
1209 BC, at the end of the Late Bronze Age and the very beginning of the
Iron Age
, on the
Merneptah Stele
raised by the Egyptian pharaoh
Merneptah
.
The
Arameans
were a Northwest Semitic semi-nomadic
pastoral
people who originated in what is now modern Syria (Biblical
Aram
) during the Late Bronze and early Iron Age. Large groups migrated to Mesopotamia, where they intermingled with the native Akkadian (Assyrian and Babylonian) population. The Aramaeans never had a unified empire; they were divided into independent kingdoms all across the Near East. After the
Bronze Age
collapse, their political influence was confined to Syro-Hittite states, which were entirely absorbed into the
Neo-Assyrian Empire
by the 8th century BC.
Mesopotamia
[
edit
]
The
Mesopotamian Bronze Age
began about 3500 BC and ended with the
Kassite
period (
c.
1500 BC ?
c.
1155 BC). The usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used in the context of Mesopotamia. Instead, a division primarily based on art and historical characteristics is more common.
The
cities of the Ancient Near East
housed several tens of thousands of people.
Ur
,
Kish
,
Isin
,
Larsa
and
Nippur
in the Middle Bronze Age and
Babylon
,
Calah
and
Assur
in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The
Akkadian Empire
(2335?2154 BC) became the dominant power in the region. After its fall, the
Sumerians
enjoyed a renaissance with the
Neo-Sumerian Empire
.
Assyria
, along with the
Old Assyrian Empire
(
c.
1800?1600 BC), became a regional power under the
Amorite
king
Shamshi-Adad I
. The earliest mention of Babylon (then a small administrative town) appears on a tablet from the reign of
Sargon of Akkad
in the 23rd century BC. The
Amorite
dynasty established the
city-state
of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over 100 years later, it briefly took over the other city-states and formed the short-lived First
Babylonian
Empire during what is also called the
Old Babylonian Period
.
Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia all used the written
East Semitic
Akkadian language
for official use and as a spoken language. By that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use in Assyria and Babylonia, and would remain so until the 1st century AD. The
Akkadian
and Sumerian traditions played a major role in later Assyrian and Babylonian culture. Despite this, Babylonia, unlike the more militarily powerful Assyria, was founded by non-native Amorites and often ruled by other non-indigenous peoples such as the
Kassites
,
Aramaeans
and
Chaldeans
, as well as by its Assyrian neighbours.
Asia
[
edit
]
Central Asia
[
edit
]
Agropastoralism
[
edit
]
For many decades, scholars made superficial reference to Central Asia as the "pastoral realm" or alternatively, the "nomadic world", in what researchers have come to call the "Central Asian void": a 5,000-year span that was neglected in studies of the origins of agriculture. Foothill regions and glacial melt streams supported Bronze Age agropastoralists who developed complex east?west
trade routes
between Central Asia and China which introduced
wheat
and
barley
to China and
millet
to Central Asia.
[31]
Bactria?Margiana Archaeological Complex
[
edit
]
The
Bactria?Margiana Archaeological Complex
(BMAC), also known as the Oxus civilization, was a Bronze Age civilization in
Central Asia
, dated to c. 2400?1600 BC,
[32]
located in present-day northern
Afghanistan
, eastern
Turkmenistan
, southern
Uzbekistan
and western
Tajikistan
, centred on the upper
Amu Darya
(Oxus River). Its sites were discovered and named by the Soviet archaeologist
Viktor Sarianidi
(1976).
Bactria
was the Greek name for the area of
Bactra
(modern
Balkh
), in what is now northern Afghanistan, and
Margiana
was the Greek name for the Persian
satrapy
of
Margu?
, the capital of which was
Merv
, in modern-day southeastern Turkmenistan.
A wealth of information indicates that the BMAC had close international relations with the
Indus Valley
, the
Iranian Plateau
, and possibly even indirectly with Mesopotamia; all civilizations were very familiar with
lost wax casting
.
[33]
According to a 2019 study,
[34]
the BMAC was not a primary contributor to later South-Asian genetics.
Seima-Turbino phenomenon
[
edit
]
The
Altai Mountains
in what is now southern
Russia
and central
Mongolia
have been identified as the point of origin of a cultural enigma termed the
Seima-Turbino Phenomenon
.
[35]
It is conjectured that changes in climate in this region around 2000 BC and the ensuing ecological, economic and political changes triggered a rapid and massive migration westward into northeast Europe, eastward into China and southward into
Vietnam
and
Thailand
[36]
across a frontier of some 4,000 mi (6,000 km).
[35]
This migration took place in just five to six generations and led to peoples from Finland in the west to Thailand in the east employing the same metalworking technology and, in some areas, horse breeding and riding.
[35]
However, recent genetic testings of sites in south Siberia and
Kazakhstan
(
Andronovo
horizon) would rather support spreading of the bronze technology via
Indo-European migrations
eastwards, as this technology had been well known for quite a while in western regions.
[37]
[38]
It is further conjectured that the same migrations spread the
Uralic
group of languages across Europe and Asia: some 39 languages of this group are still extant, including
Hungarian
,
Finnish
and
Estonian
.
[35]
East Asia
[
edit
]
China
[
edit
]
In China, the earliest bronze artefacts have been found in the
Majiayao culture
site (between 3100 and 2700 BC).
[39]
[40]
The term "Bronze Age" has been transferred to the archaeology of China from that of Western Eurasia, and there is no consensus or universally used convention delimiting the "Bronze Age" in the context of
Chinese prehistory
.
[41]
"Early Bronze Age" in China is sometimes taken as equivalent to the "
Shang dynasty
" period (16th to 11th centuries BC),
[42]
and the "Later Bronze Age" as equivalent to the "
Zhou dynasty
" period (11th to 3rd centuries BC, from the 5th century, also called "
Iron Age
"), although there is an argument to be made that the "Bronze Age" proper never ended in China, as there is no recognizable transition to an "Iron Age".
[43]
Significantly, together with the jade art that precedes it, bronze was seen as a "fine" material for ritual art when compared with iron or stone.
[44]
Bronze
metallurgy
in China originated in what is referred to as the
Erlitou
(
Wade?Giles
:
Erh-li-t'ou
) period, which some historians argue places it within the
Shang dynasty
.
[45]
Others believe the Erlitou sites belong to the preceding
Xia
(
Wade?Giles
:
Hsia
) dynasty.
[46]
The U.S.
National Gallery of Art
defines the Chinese Bronze Age as the "period between about 2000 BC and 771 BC", a period that begins with the Erlitou culture and ends abruptly with the disintegration of
Western Zhou
rule.
[47]
There is reason to believe that bronze work developed inside of China apart from outside influence.
[48]
However, the discovery of Europoid
mummies in Xinjiang
has caused some archaeologists such as
Johan Gunnar Andersson
, Jan Romgard, and An Zhimin to suggest a possible route of transmission from the West eastwards. According to An Zhimin, "It can be imagined that initially, bronze and iron technology took its rise in West Asia, first influenced the Xinjiang region, and then reached the Yellow River valley, providing external impetus for the rise of the Shang and Zhou civilizations." According to Jan Romgard, "bronze and iron tools seems to have traveled from west to east as well as the use of wheeled wagons and the domestication of the horse." There are also possible links to
Seima-Turbino culture
, "a transcultural complex across northern Eurasia," the Eurasian steppe, and the Urals.
[49]
However, the oldest bronze objects found in China so far were discovered at the
Majiayao
site in
Gansu
rather than at
Xinjiang
.
[50]
The
Shang dynasty
(also known as the Yin dynasty)
[51]
of the
Yellow River Valley
rose to power after the
Xia dynasty
around 1600 BC. While some direct information about the Shang dynasty comes from Shang-era inscriptions on bronze artefacts, most comes from
oracle bones
?turtle shells, cattle scapulae, or other bones?which bear
glyphs
that form the first significant corpus of recorded Chinese characters.
The production of
Erlitou
in Henan represents the earliest large-scale metallurgy industry in the Central Plains of China. The influence of the Saima-Turbino metalworking tradition from the north is supported by a series of recent discoveries in China of many unique perforated spearheads with downward hooks and small loops on the same or opposite side of the socket, which could be associated with the Seima-Turbino visual vocabulary of southern Siberia. The metallurgical centres of northwestern China, especially
Qijia
in
Gansu
and
Kexingzhuang
culture in
Shaanxi
, played an intermediary role in this process.
[52]
Iron has been found from the
Zhou dynasty
, but its use was minimal. Chinese literature dating to the 6th century BC attests to knowledge of iron smelting, yet bronze continues to occupy the seat of significance in the archaeological and historical record for some time after this.
[53]
Historian W.C. White argues that iron did not supplant bronze "at any period before the end of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC)" and that bronze vessels make up the majority of metal vessels through the
Later Han period
, or to 221 BC.
[54]
The Chinese bronze artefacts generally are either utilitarian, like spear points or
adze
heads, or
"ritual bronzes"
, which are more elaborate versions in precious materials of everyday vessels, as well as tools and weapons. Examples are the numerous large sacrificial tripods known as
dings
in Chinese; there are many other distinct shapes. Surviving identified Chinese ritual bronzes tend to be highly decorated, often with the
taotie
motif, which involves highly stylized animal faces. These appear in three main motif types: those of demons, symbolic animals, and abstract symbols.
[55]
Many large bronzes also bear
cast inscriptions
that are the great bulk of the surviving body of early
Chinese writing
and have helped historians and archaeologists piece together the history of China, especially during the Zhou dynasty (1046?256 BC).
The bronzes of the Western Zhou dynasty document large portions of history not found in the extant texts that were often composed by persons of varying rank and possibly even social class. Further, the medium of cast bronze lends the record they preserve a permanence not enjoyed by manuscripts.
[56]
These inscriptions can commonly be subdivided into four parts: a reference to the date and place, the naming of the event commemorated, the list of gifts given to the artisan in exchange for the bronze, and a dedication.
[57]
The relative points of reference these vessels provide have enabled historians to place most of the vessels within a certain time frame of the Western Zhou period, allowing them to trace the evolution of the vessels and the events they record.
[58]
Japan
[
edit
]
The Japanese archipelago saw the introduction of bronze during the beginning of the Early
Yayoi period
(?300 BC), which saw the introduction of metalworking and agricultural practices brought in by settlers arriving from the continent. Bronze and iron smelting techniques spread to the Japanese archipelago through contact with other ancient East Asian civilizations, particularly immigration and trade from the ancient Korean peninsula, and ancient mainland China. Iron was mainly used for agricultural and other tools, whereas ritual and ceremonial artefacts were mainly made of bronze.
[
clarification needed
]
[59]
Korea
[
edit
]
On the Korean peninsula, the Bronze Age began around 1000?800 BC.
[60]
[61]
Initially centred around
Liaoning
and southern Manchuria, Korean Bronze Age culture exhibits unique typology and styles, especially in ritual objects.
[62]
The
Mumun pottery period
is named after the Korean name for undecorated or plain cooking and storage vessels that form a large part of the pottery assemblage over the entire length of the period, but especially 850?550 BC. The Mumun period is known for the origins of intensive agriculture and complex societies in both the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago.
The Middle Mumun pottery period culture of the southern
Korean Peninsula
gradually adopted bronze production (
c.
700?600? BC) after a period when
Liaoning-style bronze daggers
and other bronze artefacts were exchanged as far as the interior part of the Southern Peninsula (
c.
900?700 BC). The bronze daggers lent prestige and authority to the personages who wielded and were buried with them in high-status megalithic burials at south-coastal centres such as the
Igeum-dong site
. Bronze was an important element in ceremonies and for mortuary offerings until 100 BC.
South Asia
[
edit
]
(Dates are approximate, consult linked articles for details)
Indus Valley
[
edit
]
The Bronze Age on the
Indian subcontinent
began around 3300 BC with the beginning of the
Indus Valley Civilization
. Inhabitants of the Indus Valley, the
Harappans
, developed new techniques in metallurgy and produced copper, bronze, lead, and tin. The Late Harappan culture, which dates from 1900 to 1400 BC, overlapped the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age; thus it is difficult to date this transition accurately. It has been claimed that a 6,000-year-old copper
amulet
manufactured in
Mehrgarh
in the shape of a wheel spoke is the earliest example of
lost-wax casting
in the world.
[63]
[64]
The civilization's cities were noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, clusters of large non-residential buildings, and new techniques in handicraft (carnelian products, seal carving) and metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, and tin).
[65]
The large cities of
Mohenjo-daro
and
Harappa
very likely grew to contain between 30,000 and 60,000 people,
[66]
and the civilization itself during its florescence may have contained between one and five million people.
[67]
Southeast Asia
[
edit
]
The
Vilabouly Complex
in
Laos
is a significant archaeological site for dating the origin of bronze metallurgy in Southeast Asia.
Thailand
[
edit
]
In
Ban Chiang
,
Thailand
, (
Southeast Asia
) bronze
artefacts
have been discovered dating to 2100 BC.
[68]
However, according to the radiocarbon dating on the human and pig bones in Ban Chiang, some scholars propose that the initial Bronze Age in Ban Chiang was in the late 2nd millennium.
[69]
In
Nyaunggan
,
Burma
, bronze tools have been excavated along with ceramics and stone artefacts. Dating is still currently broad (3500?500 BC).
[70]
Ban Non Wat
, excavated by
Charles Higham
, was a rich site with over 640 graves excavated that gleaned many complex bronze items that may have had social value connected to them.
[71]
Ban Chiang, however, is the most thoroughly documented site and has the clearest evidence of metallurgy when in Southeast Asia. With a rough date range from the late 3rd millennium BC to the first millennium AD, this site alone has artefacts such as burial pottery (dating from 2100 to 1700 BC) and fragments of bronze and copper-base bangles. This technology suggested on-site casting from the very beginning. The on-site casting supports the theory that bronze was first introduced in Southeast Asia from a different country.
[72]
Some scholars believe that copper-based metallurgy was disseminated from northwest and central China south and southwest via areas such as
Guangdong province
and
Yunnan province
and finally into southeast Asia around 1000 BC.
[69]
Archaeology also suggests that Bronze Age metallurgy may not have been as significant a catalyst in social stratification and warfare in Southeast Asia as in other regions, and that social distribution shifted away from chiefdom-states to a
heterarchical
network.
[72]
Data analyses of sites such as Ban Lum Khao, Ban Na Di, Non-Nok Tha, Khok Phanom Di, and Nong Nor have consistently led researchers to conclude that there was no entrenched hierarchy.
[73]
Vietnam
[
edit
]
Dating back to the
Neolithic Age
, the first bronze drums, called the
Dong Son drums
, were uncovered in and around the
Red River Delta
regions of Northern
Vietnam
and Southern China. These relate to the
Dong Son culture
of Vietnam.
[74]
Archaeological research in Northern Vietnam indicates an increase in rates of infectious disease following the advent of metallurgy; skeletal fragments in sites dating to the early and mid-Bronze Age evidence a greater proportion of lesions than in sites of earlier periods.
[75]
There are a few possible implications of this. One is the increased contact with bacterial and/or fungal pathogens due to increased population density and land clearing/cultivation. The other one is decreased levels of immunocompetence in the Metal Age due to changes in diet caused by agriculture. The last is that there may have been an emergence of infectious diseases that evolved into a more virulent form in the metal period.
[75]
Myanmar
[
edit
]
Europe
[
edit
]
A few examples of named Bronze Age cultures in Europe in roughly relative order.
(Dates are approximate, consult linked articles for details)
- The chosen cultures overlapped in time and the indicated periods do not fully correspond to their estimated extents.
Southeast Europe
[
edit
]
Radivojevic et al. (2013) reported the discovery of a tin bronze foil from the
Plo?nik archaeological site
securely dated to c. 4650 BC as well as 14 other artefacts from
Serbia
and
Bulgaria
dated to before 4000 BC, showing that early tin bronze was more common than previously thought and developed independently in Europe 1500 years before the first tin bronze alloys in the
Near East
. The production of complex tin bronzes lasted for about 500 years in the Balkans. The authors reported that evidence for the production of such complex bronzes disappears at the end of the 5th millennium, coinciding with the "collapse of large cultural complexes in north-eastern Bulgaria and Thrace in the late fifth millennium BC". Tin bronzes using
cassiterite
tin were reintroduced to the area some 1500 years later.
[4]
The oldest golden artefacts in the world (4600 ? 4200 BC) were found in the Necropolis of Varna. These artefacts are on display in the
Varna Archaeological Museum
[77]
[78]
[79]
The
Dabene Treasure
was unearthed from 2004 to 2007 near
Karlovo
,
Plovdiv Province
, central
Bulgaria
. The whole treasure consists of 20,000 gold jewellery items from 18 to 23 carats. The most important of them was a dagger made of
gold
and
platinum
with an unusual edge. The treasure was dated to the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Scientists suggest that the Karlovo valley used to be a major crafts centre that exported golden jewellery all over Europe. It is considered one of the largest prehistoric golden treasures in the world.
[80]
Aegean
[
edit
]
The Aegean Bronze Age began around 3200 BC, when civilizations first established a far-ranging
trade
network. This network imported
tin
and
charcoal
to
Cyprus
, where
copper
was mined and alloyed with tin to produce bronze. Bronze objects were then exported far and wide and supported the trade.
Isotopic
analysis of tin in some
Mediterranean
bronze artefacts suggests that they may have originated from
Great Britain
.
[81]
Knowledge of
navigation
was well-developed by this time and reached a peak of skill not exceeded (except perhaps by
Polynesian
sailors) until 1730 when the invention of the
chronometer
enabled the precise determination of
longitude
.
The
Minoan civilization
based in
Knossos
on the island of
Crete
appears to have coordinated and defended its Bronze Age trade. Ancient empires valued
luxury goods
in contrast to
staple foods
, leading to famine.
[82]
Aegean collapse
[
edit
]
Bronze Age collapse theories have described aspects of the end of the Bronze Age in this region. At the end of the Bronze Age in the Aegean region, the
Mycenaean
administration of the regional trade empire followed the decline of Minoan primacy.
[83]
Several Minoan
client states
lost much of their population to famine and pestilence. This would indicate that the trade network may have failed, preventing the trade that would previously have relieved such famines and prevented illness caused by malnutrition. It is also known that in this era, the
breadbasket
of the Minoan empire?the area north of the
Black Sea
?also suddenly lost much of its population and thus probably some capacity to cultivate crops.
[84]
Drought and famine in Anatolia may have also led to the Aegean collapse by disrupting trade networks, therefore preventing the Aegean from accessing bronze and luxury goods.
[85]
The Aegean collapse has been attributed to the exhaustion of the
Cypriot
forests causing the end of the bronze trade.
[86]
[87]
[88]
These forests are known to have existed in later times, and experiments have shown that
charcoal
production on the scale necessary for the bronze production of the late Bronze Age would have exhausted them in less than fifty years.
The Aegean collapse has also been attributed to the fact that as
iron
tools became more common, the main justification for the tin trade ended, and that trade network ceased to function as it did formerly.
[89]
The colonies of the Minoan empire then suffered drought, famine, war, or some combination of the three, and had no access to the distant resources of an empire by which they could easily recover.
The
Thera eruption
occurred
c.
1600 BC, 110 km (68 mi) north of Crete. Speculation includes that a
tsunami
from Thera (more commonly known today as
Santorini
) destroyed Cretan cities. A tsunami may have destroyed the Cretan
navy
in its home harbour, which then lost crucial naval battles; so that in the
LMIB/LMII
event (
c.
1450 BC) the cities of
Crete
burned and the
Mycenaean civilization
took
Knossos
over. If the eruption occurred in the late 17th century BC (as most chronologists now believe) then its immediate effects belong to the Middle to Late Bronze Age transition, and not to the end of the Late Bronze Age, but it could have triggered the instability that led to the collapse first of Knossos and then of Bronze Age society overall.
[
citation needed
]
One such theory highlights the role of Cretan expertise in administering the empire, post-Thera. If this expertise was concentrated in Crete, then the Mycenaeans may have made political and commercial mistakes in administering the Cretan empire.
[
citation needed
]
Archaeological findings, including some on the island of Thera, suggest that the centre of the Minoan civilization at the time of the eruption was actually on Thera rather than on Crete.
[90]
According to this theory, the catastrophic loss of the political, administrative and economic centre due to the eruption, as well as the damage wrought by the tsunami to the coastal towns and villages of Crete precipitated the decline of the Minoans. A weakened political entity with a reduced economic and military capability and fabled riches would have then been more vulnerable to conquest. Indeed, the Santorini eruption is usually dated to
c.
1630 BC,
[91]
while the Mycenaean Greeks first enter the historical record a few decades later,
c.
1600 BC.
[
citation needed
]
The later Mycenaean assaults on Crete (
c.
1450 BC) and Troy (
c.
1250 BC) would have been a continuation of the steady encroachment of the Greeks upon the weakened Minoan world.
[
citation needed
]
Central Europe
[
edit
]
In
Central Europe
, the early Bronze Age
Unetice culture
(2300?1600 BC) includes numerous smaller groups like the
Straubing
,
Adlerberg
and
Hatvan
cultures. Some very rich burials, such as the one located at
Leubingen
with grave gifts crafted from gold, point to an increase of social stratification already present in the
Unetice culture
. All in all, cemeteries of this period are small and rare. The Unetice culture was followed by the middle Bronze Age (1600?1200 BC)
tumulus culture
, characterized by inhumation burials in
tumuli
(barrows). In the eastern
Hungarian
Koros
tributaries, the early Bronze Age first saw the introduction of the
Mako culture
, followed by the
Otomani
and Gyulavarsand cultures.
The late Bronze Age
Urnfield
culture (1300?700 BC) was characterized by cremation burials. It included the
Lusatian culture
in eastern
Germany
and
Poland
(1300?500 BC) that continues into the
Iron Age
. The Central European Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age
Hallstatt culture
(700?450 BC).
Important sites
include:
German prehistorian
Paul Reinecke
described Bronze A1 (Bz A1) period (2300?2000 BC: triangular daggers, flat axes, stone wrist-guards, flint arrowheads) and Bronze A2 (Bz A2) period (1950?1700 BC: daggers with metal hilt, flanged axes, halberds, pins with perforated spherical heads, solid bracelets) and phases Hallstatt A and B (Ha A and B).
Southern Europe
[
edit
]
The
Apennine culture
(also called Italian Bronze Age) is a technology complex of central and southern Italy spanning the
Chalcolithic
and Bronze Age proper. The
Camuni
were an ancient people of uncertain origin (according to
Pliny the Elder
, they were
Euganei
; according to
Strabo
, they were
Rhaetians
) who lived in
Val Camonica
?in what is now northern
Lombardy
?during the
Iron Age
, although groups of hunters, shepherds, and farmers are known to have lived in the area since the
Neolithic
.
Located in
Sardinia
and
Corsica
, the
Nuragic civilization
lasted from the early Bronze Age (18th century BC) to the 2nd century AD, when the islands were already Romanized. They take their name from the characteristic Nuragic towers, which evolved from the pre-existing megalithic culture, which built
dolmens
and
menhirs
.
The towers are unanimously considered the best-preserved and largest megalithic remains in Europe. Their purpose is still debated: some scholars consider them monumental tombs, others as
Houses of the Giants
, other as fortresses, ovens for metal fusion, prisons, or, finally, temples for a solar cult. Around the end of the 3rd millennium BC, Sardinia exported to Sicily a culture that built small dolmens, trilithic or polygonal shaped, that served as tombs, as in the Sicilian dolmen of "Cava dei Servi". From this region, they reached
Malta
and other countries of Mediterranean basin.
[92]
The
Terramare
was an early
Indo-European
civilization in the area of what is now
Pianura Padana
(in northern Italy) before the arrival of the
Celts
, and in other parts of Europe. They lived in square villages of wooden
stilt houses
. These villages were built on land, but generally near a stream, with roads that
crossed each other at right angles
. The whole complex was of the nature of a fortified settlement. The Terramare culture was widespread in the Pianura Padana, especially along the
Panaro
river, between
Modena
and
Bologna
, and in the rest of Europe. The civilization developed in the Middle and Late Bronze Age, between the 17th and the 13th centuries BC.
The
Castellieri culture
developed in
Istria
during the Middle Bronze Age. It lasted for more than a millennium, from the 15th century BC until the Roman conquest in the 3rd century BC. It takes its name from the fortified boroughs (
Castellieri
,
Friulian
:
cjastelir
) that characterized the culture.
The
Canegrate culture
developed from the mid-Bronze Age (13th century BC) until the Iron Age in the Pianura Padana, in what are now western
Lombardy
, eastern
Piedmont
, and
Ticino
. It takes its name from the township of
Canegrate
, where, in the 20th century, some fifty tombs with ceramics and metal objects were found. The Canegrate culture migrated from the northwest part of the Alps and descended to Pianura Padana from the Swiss Alps passes and the Ticino.
The
Golasecca culture
developed starting from the late Bronze Age in the
Po plain
. It takes its name from Golasecca, a locality next to the Ticino, where, in the early 19th century, abbot
Giovanni Battista Giani
[
it
]
excavated its first findings (some fifty tombs with ceramics and metal objects). Remains of the Golasecca culture span an area of about 20,000 km
2
(4,900,000 acres) south to the Alps, between the Po,
Sesia
, and
Serio
rivers, dating from the 9th to the 4th century BC.
West Europe
[
edit
]
Great Britain
[
edit
]
In
Great Britain
, the Bronze Age is considered to have been the period from around 2100 to 750 BC.
Migration
brought new people to the islands from the continent.
[93]
Tooth enamel isotope research on bodies found in early Bronze Age graves around
Stonehenge
indicates that at least some of the migrants came from the area of modern
Switzerland
. Another example site is
Must Farm
near
Whittlesey
, host to the most complete Bronze Age wheel ever to be found. The
Beaker culture
displayed different behaviours from earlier
Neolithic
people, and cultural change was significant. Integration is thought to have been peaceful, as many of the early
henge
sites were seemingly adopted by the newcomers. The rich
Wessex culture
developed in southern Britain at this time. Additionally, the climate was deteriorating; where once the weather was warm and dry it became much wetter as the Bronze Age continued, forcing the population away from easily defended sites in the hills and into the fertile valleys. Large livestock farms developed in the lowlands and appear to have contributed to economic growth and inspired increasing forest clearances. The
Deverel-Rimbury culture
began to emerge in the second half of the Middle Bronze Age (
c.
1400?1100 BC) to exploit these conditions.
Devon
and
Cornwall
were major sources of tin for much of western Europe and copper was extracted from sites such as the
Great Orme
mine in northern
Wales
. Social groups appear to have been tribal but with growing complexity and hierarchies becoming apparent.
The burials, which until this period had usually been communal, became more individual. For example, whereas in the Neolithic a large
chambered cairn
or
long barrow
housed the dead, Early Bronze Age people buried their dead in individual
barrows
(commonly known and marked on modern British
Ordnance Survey
maps as tumuli), or sometimes in
cists
covered with
cairns
.
The greatest quantities of bronze objects in
England
were discovered in
East Cambridgeshire
, with the most important finds recovered in
Isleham
(more than
6500 pieces
).
[94]
Alloying of copper with zinc or tin to make brass or bronze was practised soon after the discovery of copper itself. One copper mine at Great Orme in North Wales, reached a depth of 70 metres.
[95]
At
Alderley Edge
in
Cheshire
, carbon dating has established mining at around 2280 to 1890 BC (95% probability).
[96]
The earliest identified
metalworking
site (Sigwells, Somerset) came much later, dated by globular urn-style pottery to approximately the 12th century BC. The identifiable
sherds
from over 500 mould fragments included a perfect fit of the hilt of a sword in the Wilburton style held in Somerset County Museum.
[97]
Atlantic Bronze Age
[
edit
]
The Atlantic Bronze Age as cultural geographic region is a cultural complex (
c.
2100
-/800/700 cal. BC) that includes different cultures in the contex of the Atlantic Iberian Peninsula (Portugal, Andalucia, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Pais Vasco, Navarra and Castilla and Leon), the Atlantic France, Britain and Ireland, while the
Atlantic Bronze Age
as cultural complex of the final phase of the Bronze Age period is dated between ca. 1350 and 700 BC. It is marked by economic and cultural exchange. Commercial contacts extend to Denmark and the Mediterranean. The Atlantic Bronze Age was defined by many distinct regional centres of metal production, unified by a regular maritime exchange of products.
Ireland
[
edit
]
The Bronze Age in Ireland commenced around 2000 BC when copper was alloyed with tin and used to manufacture Ballybeg type flat axes and associated metalwork. The preceding period is known as the
Copper Age
and is characterised by the production of flat axes,
daggers
,
halberds
and
awls
in copper. The period is divided into three phases: Early Bronze Age (2000?1500 BC), Middle Bronze Age (1500?1200 BC), and Late Bronze Age (1200?
c.
500 BC). Ireland is known for a relatively large number of Early Bronze Age burials. The country's
stone circles
and
stone rows
were built during this period.
[98]
One of the characteristic types of artefacts of the Early Bronze Age in Ireland is the flat axe. There are five main types of flat axes: Lough Ravel crannog (
c.
2200 BC), Ballybeg (
c.
2000 BC), Killaha (
c.
2000 BC), Ballyvalley (
c.
2000?1600 BC), Derryniggin (
c.
1600 BC), and a number of metal ingots in the shape of axes.
[99]
Northern Europe
[
edit
]
The Bronze Age in Northern Europe spans the entire
2nd millennium BC
, (
Unetice culture
,
Urnfield culture
,
Tumulus culture
,
Terramare culture
and
Lusatian culture
) lasting until
c.
600 BC. The
Northern Bronze Age
was both a period and a Bronze Age culture in Scandinavian pre-history,
c.
1700?500 BC, with sites as far east as Estonia. Succeeding the Late Neolithic culture, its ethnic and linguistic affinities are unknown in the absence of written sources. It was followed by the
Pre-Roman Iron Age
.
Even though Northern European Bronze Age cultures came relatively late, and came into existence via trade, sites present rich and well-preserved objects made of wool, wood and imported Central European bronze and gold. Many rock carvings depict ships, and the large stone burial monuments known as stone ships suggest that shipping played an important role. Thousands of rock carvings depict ships, most probably representing sewn plank-built canoes for warfare, fishing, and trade. These may have a history as far back as the neolithic period and continue into the Pre-Roman Iron Age, as shown by the
Hjortspring boat
. There are many mounds and rock carving sites from the period. Numerous artefacts of bronze and gold are found. No written language existed in the Nordic countries during the Bronze Age. The rock carvings have been dated through comparison with depicted artefacts.
Eastern Europe
[
edit
]
The
Yamnaya culture
(c.3300?2600 BC) was a Late Copper Age/Early Bronze Age culture of the
Pontic-Caspian steppe
,
[100]
[101]
and is associated with early
Indo-Europeans
. It was followed on the steppe by the
Catacomb culture
(
c.
2800?2200 BC) and the
Poltavka culture
(c.2800?2200 BC). The closely-related
Corded Ware culture
in the
forest-steppe
region to the north (c. 3000?2350 BC) spread eastwards with the
Fatyanovo culture
(c.2900?2050 BC), which subsequently developed into the
Abashevo culture
(c.2200?1850 BC) and the
Sintashta culture
(c. 2200?1750 BC). The earliest known
chariots
have been found in Sintashta burials and there is earlier evidence for chariot use in the Abashevo culture. The Sintashta culture expanded further eastwards into central Asia becoming the
Andronovo culture
, whilst the
Srubnaya culture
(c.1900?1200 BC) continued the use of chariots in eastern Europe.
Caucasus
[
edit
]
Arsenical bronze
artefacts of the
Maykop culture
in the
North Caucasus
have been dated to around the 4th millennium BC.
[102]
This innovation resulted in the circulation of arsenical bronze technology through southern and eastern Europe.
[103]
Africa
[
edit
]
Sub-Saharan Africa
[
edit
]
Iron and copper smelting appeared around the same time in most parts of Africa.
[17]
[104]
As such, most
African civilizations
outside Egypt did not experience a distinct Bronze Age. Evidence for iron smelting appears earlier or at the same time as copper smelting in
Nigeria
c.
900
?800 BC,
Rwanda
and
Burundi
c.
700
?500 BC and
Tanzania
c.
300 BC
.
[104]
[105]
[106]
There is a longstanding debate about whether both copper and iron metallurgy were independently developed in sub-Saharan Africa or introduced from the outside across the
Sahara Desert
from
North Africa
or the
Indian Ocean
.
[104]
Evidence for theories of independent development and outside introduction are scarce and the subject of active scholarly debate.
[104]
Scholars have suggested that both the relative dearth of archeological research in sub-Saharan Africa as well as long-standing prejudices have limited or biased our understanding of pre-historic metallurgy on the continent.
[105]
[107]
[108]
One scholar characterized the state of historical knowledge: "To say that the history of metallurgy in sub-Saharan Africa is complicated is perhaps an understatement."
[108]
West Africa
[
edit
]
Copper smelting took place in West Africa prior to the appearance of iron smelting in the region. Evidence for copper smelting furnaces was found near
Agadez
, Niger that has been dated as early as 2200 BC.
[105]
However, evidence for copper production in this region before 1000 BC is debated.
[109]
[17]
[105]
Evidence of copper mining and smelting has been found at
Akjoujt
,
Mauretania
that suggests small scale production
c.
800 to 400 BC.
[105]
Americas
[
edit
]
The
Moche
civilization of
South America
independently discovered and developed bronze smelting.
[110]
Bronze technology was developed further by the
Incas
and widely used both for utilitarian objects and for sculpture.
[111]
[
unreliable source?
]
A later appearance of limited bronze smelting in western Mexico suggests either contact of that region with
Andean cultures
or separate discovery of the technology. The
Calchaqui
people of northwestern Argentina had bronze technology.
[112]
Trade
[
edit
]
Trade and industry played a major role in the development of Bronze Age civilizations. With artefacts of the Indus Valley civilization found in ancient
Mesopotamia
and
Egypt
, it is clear that these civilizations were not only in touch with one another, but also trading. Early long-distance trade was limited almost exclusively to luxury goods like spices, textiles, and precious metals. Not only did this make cities with ample amounts of these products extremely rich, but it also led to an intermingling of cultures for the first time in history.
[113]
Trade routes were not just on land. The first and most extensive trade routes were along rivers such as the
Nile
, the
Tigris
, and the
Euphrates
, which led to the growth of cities on the banks of these rivers. The later domestication of camels also helped encourage
trade routes
overland, linking the Indus Valley with the
Mediterranean
. This further led to towns sprouting up everywhere there was a pit-stop or caravan-to-ship port.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
The Metal Ages
. Encyclopedia Britannica.
- ^
III, James E. McClellan; Dorn, Harold (14 April 2006).
Science and Technology in World History
(2nd ed.). Baltimore, MD:
JHU Press
. p.
21
.
ISBN
978-0-8018-8360-6
.
- ^
Bronze was independently discovered in the
Maykop culture
of the
North Caucasus
as early as the mid-
4th millennium BC
, which makes them the producers of the oldest-known bronze. However, the Maykop culture only had
arsenical bronze
. Other regions developed bronze and its associated technology at different periods.
- ^
a
b
Radivojevic, M; Rehren, T; Kuzmanovic-Cvetkovic, J; Jovanovic, M; Northover, JP (2013).
"Tainted ores and the rise of tin bronzes in Eurasia,
c.
6500 years ago"
.
Antiquity
.
87
(338): 1030?1045.
doi
:
10.1017/S0003598X0004984X
.
- ^
Sljivar, D.; Boric, D.; et al. (2014). "Context is everything: comments on Radivojevic et al. (2013)".
Antiquity
.
88
(342): 1310?1315.
doi
:
10.1017/s0003598x00115480
.
S2CID
163137272
.
- ^
Radivojevic, M.; Rehren, Th.; Kuzmanovic-Cvetkovic, J.; Jovanovic, M. (2014). "Context is everything indeed: a response to Sljivar and Boric".
Antiquity
.
88
(342): 1315?1319.
doi
:
10.1017/s0003598x00115492
.
S2CID
163091248
.
- ^
The Near East period dates and phases are unrelated to the bronze chronology of other regions of the world.
- ^
Piotr Bienkowski, Alan Ralph Millard, eds.
Dictionary of the ancient Near East
. p. 60.
- ^
Amelie Kuhr.
The Ancient Near East, c. 3000?330 BC
. p. 9.
- ^
Lev, Ron; Bechar, Shlomit; Boaretto, Elisabetta (2021).
"Hazor Eb III City Abandonment and Iba People Return: Radiocarbon Chronology and ITS Implications"
.
Radiocarbon
.
63
(5): 1453.
Bibcode
:
2021Radcb..63.1453L
.
doi
:
10.1017/RDC.2021.76
– via Cambridge Core.
- ^
Killebrew, Ann E. (2013).
The Philistines and Other 'Sea Peoples' in Text and Archaeology
. Society of Biblical Literature Archaeology and biblical studies. Vol. 15. Society of Biblical Literature. p. 2.
ISBN
978-1-58983-721-8
. Archived from
the original
on 3 September 2015
. Retrieved
20 June
2015
.
First coined in 1881 by the French Egyptologist G. Maspero (1896), the somewhat misleading term 'Sea Peoples' encompasses the ethnonyms Lukka, Sherden, Shekelesh, Teresh, Eqwesh, Denyen, Sikil / Tjekker, Weshesh, and Peleset (Philistines). [Footnote: The modern term 'Sea Peoples' refers to peoples that appear in several New Kingdom Egyptian texts as originating from 'islands' (tables 1?2; Adams and Cohen, this volume; see, e.g.,
Drews
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- Childe, V.G. (1930).
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