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HOME :
Near Eastern Art :
Bronze Age : Short Bronze Sword
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Short Bronze Sword - FZ.140
Origin: Central Asia
Circa: 1500
BC
to 1200
BC
Catalogue: V1
Collection: Near Eastern
Medium: Bronze
$1,200.00
Location: United States
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| Description |
The Bronze Age was a period in the
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.
The Bronze Age forms part of the three-
age system for prehistoric societies. In
that system, it follows the Neolithic in
some areas of the world. In many parts
of sub-Saharan Africa, the Neolithic is
directly followed by the Iron Age.
The place and time of the invention of
bronze are controversial, and it is
possible that bronzing was invented
independently in multiple places. The
earliest known tin bronzes are from what
is now Iran and Iraq and date to the
late 4th millennium BC, but there are
claims of an earlier appearance of tin
bronze in Thailand in the 5th millennium
BC. Arsenical bronzes were made in
Anatolia and on both sides of the
Caucasus by the early 3rd millennium BC.
Some scholars date some arsenical bronze
artefacts of the Maykop culture in the
North Caucasus as far back as the mid
4th millennium BC, which would make them
the oldest known bronzes, but others
date the same Maykop artefacts to the
mid 3rd millennium BC.
The Bronze Age in the Near East is
divided into three main periods (the
dates are very approximate):
• EBA - Early Bronze Age (c.3500-
2000 BC)
• MBA - Middle Bronze Age (c.2000-
1600 BC)
• LBA - Late Bronze Age (c.1600-
1200 BC)
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.
- (FZ.140)
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