The Bronze Ages

7/27/2019 The Bronze Ages

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Copper + Tin = Bronze


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Once established in the valleys the peoples of both

Egypt and Mesopotamia found it necessary too wagean annual war against the floods of the great rivers.

The prehistoric farming population drained

the originally swampy banks along the rivers inboth Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Irrigation


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Sennacherib

- The Assyrian king who built the first long-distance water supply (691 B.C.)

Water Supply for cities


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The advent of metal tools in the Bronze Age made

possible the building of log houses in the forestregions; while in the south the types of houses with aroofed front porch and room with a central fireplaceprevailed.

Building


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However, Timber was scarce in both Mesopotamia and

Egypt, so brick and stone were the primary buildingmaterials.

Natural stone played only a small part inMesopotamian architecture.

stone abounded in the eastern and western desertregions; hence Egypt developed the use of natural stonein architecture.

Building


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Neolithic and Bronze Age man tamed animals

intentionally.

The oldest Egyptian wall-paintings show that evenantelopes and gazelles were domesticated, possibly

for economic purposes, as their skins and the leatherprepared from them were much prized.

Domestication of

Animals


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Animals were bred because of their meat, hides, or

milk, and man gradually acquired sufficientbiological experience to be able to produce more"specialized" animals, the products of which wererefined by various techniques.


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In Egypt the smelting of copper began about 4000

B.C., and copper ores were mined in the SinaiDesert peninsula.

Tin- the metal which is best alloyed with copper

to produce bronze.

Metallurgy


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There is no doubt that the ancient smiths had

mastered the various techniques of working gold,silver, copper and its alloy bronze, lead andantimony.

Working sheet-metal, raising,hammering, repousse-working,stamping and engraving, soldering and weldingheld no mystery for these metallurgical craftsmen.

Craftsmen


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Mesopotamia was the typical wool-producing

country of antiquity.

In general, the craftsmen of ancient Egyptand Mesopotamia must have been extremely

skilled, for they produced excellent work withoutthe aid of sophisticated tools and machines.

Textile


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Irrigation

Supply of clay Mesopotamia

Supply of natural stone

Egypt


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Not only are both copper and bronze in use, but the

Sumerians know the techniques and practisedifferent forms of casting for copper and bronze.

It is decidedly superior to contemporary Egyptian

technique and the Egyptians do not yet use bronzefor many a generation.

Sumerian Metallurgy


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Bronze, an alloy made from copper and tin, had

started to become scarce by the 12th century andforced people to use alternative metals.

The beginning of the Iron Age in any culture is

marked by a switch from bronze forging to ironsmelting, which changed human technology

Transition

The Bronze Ages

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