Questions tagged [bronze-age]
The Bronze Age is a time period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, for classifying and studying ancient societies.
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Where and when were the earliest bronzes made which intentionally added tin to copper?
I’m trying to update my understanding of the early timeline of bronze use in Eurasia. Much of my knowledge on the subject came from the 1976 edition of Tylecote’s History of Metallurgy, which is now ...
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How did people trade for food and drink in Bronze age cities?
The time period I’m specifically interested in is Mesopotamian civilizations in the early to middle bronze age, but I don’t mind examples from other comparable cultures.
I’m curious how people in ...
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How safe were ancient boats on the sea? [closed]
On Wiki, it is said that even in the Bronze Age, sea people looted with boat.
But is it safe to cross the sea by boat in the Bronze Age?
If not, since when has it been stable to cross the sea by boat?
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What is the name of this ancient means of identification based on broken objects?
I'm gathering data about the origins of identification/authentication means. I remember having read about a way of identifying a friend, during the bronze age. Maybe during classical antiquity also.
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How did Shang & Zhou Dynasty China use incense?
According to Wikipedia's Incense and Incense in China articles "At around 2000 BCE, Ancient China began the use of incense in the religious sense, namely for worship. Incense was used by Chinese ...
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Why iron is not discussed more as a probable cause of "Bronze age collapse"? [closed]
Most discussed possible causes for Bronze Age Collapse are
Climate change
Droughts (either natural, or caused by deforestation)
Volcanic eruption
Sea People
But Bonze Age Collapse is also begining ...
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Why are the Corded Ware and Kurgan theories incompatible?
Why can't the Corded Ware Culture be a part of the Kurgan hypothesis of the PIE Urheimat? These two things overlap in time and place. Gambutas included the Corded Ware culture in her theory. I'm not ...
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What effect did the Bronze Age collapse have on India?
There was direct trade between Mesopotamia and India from the 3rd millennium BCE, and indirect trade as far back as the 9th millennium BCE.
I'm wondering what effect the Bronze Age collapse (c. 1200 ...
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Is there a connection between kushits and kushans?
I've noticed a resemblance in tribe names. I know that the Kingdom of Kush and the Kushan Empire are divided not only by a substantial distance but also a substantial amount of time. Is there any ...
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Was touching your nose a greeting in second millenium Mesopotamia?
I ran across a curious sentence today, in a Mesopotamian prayer to a personal god (the grammar looked better in verse format):
"Daily worship your god with offerings, prayers and appropriate
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Was early Mari Sumerian or multicultural?
Mari was a multicultural Semitic and Sumerian city in central Mesopotamia. Despite its rich history during the historical period, I have found almost no discussion of the earliest period. This was ...
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Did bronze metallurgical development peak by the end of the bronze age?
There is a lot of talk, books, and science about the development of iron into increasing qualities and types of steel, but I do not see the same attention given to bronze. This is not counting the ...
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What kind of evidence (if any) could be used to identify a large conquest in the time before writing?
From what I understand, writing wasn't completely developed during the Bronze Age. So, if there was an Alexander-the-Great-style conquest that united the known world for a short period of time, what ...
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Are we now living in an Automation Age? [closed]
Background
Historians have grouped epochs of human technological advancement into various "Technology Ages" (characterized by the predominant types of tools and weapons used by humans) including the ...
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Was bronze ever used for chainmail?
I was reading the Wikipedia article on mail, more commonly known as chainmail, when I saw a mention that mail could be made with bronze. The section in general did not appear to be talking about ...
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What attributes did Yahweh have before becoming a monotheistic deity?
Did it "belong" to another people before he was adopted by Hebrews? Is there any anthropological reconstruction about all this monotheistic thing?
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When did Aurochs (large wild cattle) become extinct in Britain?
Estimated to average around 150cm (cows) and 170cm (bulls) at the shoulder, the aurochs
was an important animal to humans, during prehistory when it was
widely hunted, and in some areas also ...
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Could the warriors of the Tollense battlefield be considered the world's first standing army?
Slaughter at the bridge: Uncovering a colossal Bronze Age battle - from Science Mag (2016)
Apparently an amateur archaeologist discovered this site in 1996 and there were thousands of warriors ...
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Was there any Empire that only used bronze?
As far as I know, the Hittite and the Assyrian were Bronze Age empires but one of the reasons why they conquered other people was because of their mass produced iron weapons.
Mycenaean used bronze but ...
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How multilingual would Canaanite citizens have been?
This question concerns the Land of Israel circa 1,500-1,000 BCE.
Different sources mention different languages for this region:
This land was part of the New Kingdom of Egypt, so presumably Middle ...
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How was the start date of the bronze age determined?
Since the bronze age, it's been known that there was a bronze age, follow by an iron age.
Today it is accepted that the bronze age in the Middle East started about 3500 B.C. This date is easy to ...
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Where are the Dorians from?
I'm studying Greek History and reading about the end of the Bronze Age. And after reading about the Dorians several times now, I'm confused about where the Dorians actually came from, the closest I ...
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Were the greatest rulers from before the Classical Antiquity known by ancient historians?
To clearly delimit dates and places, I ask for information about the rulers before 1000 BC in the Fertile Crescent or Eastern Mediterranean. Historians may be Greek, Roman, or peoples belonging to the ...
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How old is the Egyptian winged disk? Is it Assyrian?
I assumed that the Winged disk was brought to Egypt by the Assyrians, and used prolifically during the Amarna period. However, I read on Wikipedia and elsewhere that it's known since the Old Kingdom, ...
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What is the true reason for the destruction of the Indus Civilisation? [closed]
I would like to know the views that the historians of this age give about the destruction of the Indus Civilisation. Some views were like foreign invasions, natural disasters and epidemics. But I ...
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How common / uncommon was sword-vs-sword combat on ancient battlegrounds?
The question Any notable battles fought with steel vs. bronze weapons?, more precisely the comment to this answer to the tone of "ah, but that was mainly a chariot battle...", piqued my interest.
As ...
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What are some settlements in Greece circa 2000 BCE - 1900 BCE?
While looking at some data for a game I was working on set in 2000 BCE, I had the big problem: what are some ancient Greek settlements from between 2000 BCE and 1900 BCE?
The Minoans at the time had ...
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What was the age distribution in the Bronze Age? How do I find out?
What was the age distribution in the Bronze Age? How do I find out?
I've seen citations "around" (encyclopedias and wikipedia) that say the life expectancy in the Bronze Age was around 26
yet this ...
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How was the Urnfield culture represented around 1300 BC in the area the Romans called Gallia Belgica?
I have been doing some research for the alternate history book I've been thinking about writing for a few years now, and have been happy to be able to fit my events nicely into geography and ...
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Is there a relationship between the Pelasgians and Sea Peoples?
Wikipedia describes the Pelasgians as follows:
all the indigenous inhabitants of the Aegean Sea region and their cultures before the advent of the Greek language.
And that these people where seen ...
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Is there a link between the Sea people and the Trojan War?
Are there any known links between the Trojan war and the sea people invasions of the late bronze age, or any theory linking the two? I know that the approximate dates for both roughly coincide, and ...
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Are there any historically significant volcanic eruptions that predate Akrotiri?
Specifically, any that occurred after the first civilizations developed, but before the Minoan eruption on Santorini (Thera/Akrotiri). (Approx. 3500 – 1600 B.C.)
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Did the proto-Indo-Europeans displace or overlay the pre-existing European tribes?
The various proto-Indo-European groups which entered European in the 2nd millennium BCE replaced local languages very thoroughly. Basque and Sami might be remainders of pre-PIE people's languages. ...
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Did the Trojan Horse actually exist?
The story of the Trojan Horse is very well known in the West, but did it actually exist, and if so what was it?
Although the Odyssey is mostly mythical and fantastic, we know that a few elements were ...
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What does the prefix in dates mean? [closed]
While reading history text online, I find that some dates have a prefix e.g.
c. 5000 BP
c. 3300 BCE
ca. 3300 BC
What does the prefix mean?
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Did the chariot drop in importance between bronze age Greece and the iron age Greece? Why, why not?
In what I've read about classical Greece - about Persian wars, Pelaponesian wars, Battle of Leuctra, Macedonia conquest...etc. - military discussion seems to be mostly about the Phalanx with a bit ...
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What is the most important historical theme of Bronze age society [closed]
What is the most important historical theme of Bronze age society?
For them of course it would have been just surviving, but as historians, when we look back at it now. What's (most likely) the ...
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Was the Minoan civilization warlike?
Generally, it is believed that the Minoan civilization on Crete was peaceful and their culture was more like a culture of peace than a culture of war.
But I've read an article lately that suggests ...
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Was there a bronze age in the Americas?
One of the answers to What are the factors that caused the new world civilizations to be less technologically advanced than the old world? made an interesting statement:
in terms of metalworking, ...
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Have there been any notable battles fought with steel vs. bronze weapons?
In answering the question "was the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age violent?" I found out a few facts that I hadn't expected. Namely, that the early iron weapons weren't necessarily ...
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Was the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age violent?
In Europe, when the Bronze Age ended and the Iron Age began, was it a peaceful spread of technology, or was it a violent conquest where the newcomers were able to win by their more advanced technology?...
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How large were Bronze Age settlements?
How large was the typical settlement in Europe during the Bronze Age? Did most people live in isolated farmsteads or something more like small villages?
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What was the estimated population living in Egypt around 1446 BC?
The biblical narrative in Exodus 11 tells that all firstborn sons of Egypt died in a single night. While maybe there's no historical evidence of that, it would be interesting to know what was the ...
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What was the world population around 970 BC? Does it fit the biblical narrative?
What was the world population around 970 BC?
What was Palestine's population around 970 BC?
Does the following bible verse fits in the current historical world population estimatives?
In Israel ...
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How often did city-destroying floods happen in Mesopotamia?
I keep seeing Mesopotamia described as a floodplain, and I'm finding inklings of evidence that some cities in ancient Mesopotamia were actually destroyed by floods. But how common of an occurrence ...
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