Bronze Age

The second age of the Three Age System, beginning about 4000-3000 BC in the Mideast and about 2000-1500 BC in Europe. It followed the Stone Age and preceded the Iron Age and was defined by a shift from stone tools and weapons to the use of bronze. During this time civilization based on agriculture and urban life developed. Trading to obtain tin for making bronze led to the rapid diffusion of ideas and technological improvements. The Iron Age began about 1500 BC in the Mideast and 900 BC in Europe. Bronze artifacts were valued highly and became part of many hoards. In the Americas, true bronze was used in northern Argentina before 1000 AD and it spread to Peru and the Incas. Bronze was never as important in the New World as in the Old. The Bronze Age is often divided into three periods: Early Bronze Age (c 4000-2000 BC), Middle Bronze Age (c 2000-1600 BC), and Late Bronze Age (c 1600-1200 BC) but he chronological limits and the terminology vary from region to region.

Second age of the Three Age System, defined by the use of bronze as the main material for making tools. The term is still widely used in West Asiatic and European prehistory. The dates of the Bronze Age vary from area to area, but in general terms it belongs to the 3rd and 2nd millennia bc in Western Asia, the 2nd and early 1st millennia bc in Europe.

Second age of the Three Age System, beginning about 40003000 bc in the Middle East and about 2000-1500 bc in Europe. It followed the Stone Age and preceded the Iron Age and was defined by a shift from stone tools and weapons to the use of bronze. During this time civilization based on agriculture and urban life developed. Trading to obtain tin for making bronze led to the rapid diffusion of ideas and technological improvements. Bronze artifacts were valued highly and became part of many hoards. In the Americas, true bronze was used in northern Argentina before ad 1000 and its use spread to Peru and the Incas. Bronze was never as important in the New World as in the Old. The Bronze Age is often divided into three periods: Early Bronze Age (c. 4000-2000 bc ), Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000-1600 bc ), and Late Bronze Age (c. 1600-1200 bc ) but the chronological limits and the terminology vary from region to region.