Bronze Age Weapons

Archaeologists Puzzle Over Opulent Prehistoric Burial Find

In 1877, when archeology was still in its infancy, art professor Friedrich Klopfleisch climbed an almost nine-meter (20-foot) mound of earth in Leubingen, a district in the eastern German state of Thuringia lying near a range of hills in eastern Germany known as the Kyffhäuser. He was there to "kettle" the hill, which entailed having workers dig a hole from the top of the burial mound into the burial chamber below.

When they finally arrived at the burial chamber, everything lay untouched: There were the remains of a man, shiny gold cloak pins, precious tools, a dagger, a pot for food or drink near the man's feet, and the skeleton of a child lying across his lap.

The "prince" of Leubingen was clearly a member of the elite. Farmers who had little to eat themselves had piled up at least 3,000 cubic meters (106,000 cubic feet) of earth to fashion the burial mound. They had also built a tent-shaped vault out of oak beams and covered it with a mound of stones, as if he had been a pharaoh.

For years, scholars have puzzled over the source of the prince's power. But Thuringia's state office of historical preservation has now come a step closer to solving the mystery. Agency archeologists used heavy machinery to excavate 25 hectares (62 acres) of ground in the mound's immediate surroundings, exposing a buried infrastructure. They discovered the remains of one of the largest buildings in prehistoric Germany, with 470 square meters (5,057 square feet) of floor space; a treasure trove of bronze objects; and a cemetery in which 44 farmers were buried in simple, unadorned graves.

A Mysterious Cache

With its unearthed remains of huts and palaces, of humble living next to ostentatious luxury, the Leubingen site provides an example of stark social differences. But the dig also sheds light on the moment in history when mankind lost its economic innocence.

In the Neolithic age, farming communities were still egalitarian because everyone was equally poor. But then came the Bronze Age, which saw the emergence of a privileged upper-class caste of chieftains. They lived relatively luxurious lives, were buried in even greater opulence, and adorned their wives with gold jewelry and amber necklaces.

Archeologists are particularly excited about the cache of weapons they publicly unveiled on Monday. The weapons are still packed in dirt within a ceramic pot. Tests conducted with a particle accelerator have already shown that the pot contains roughly 100 bronze hatchet blades.

Bronze Age Weapons | Suite101.com

Bronze Age weapons development occurred between 3500 BCE and 1000 BCE. The Bronze Age warfare involved large technological advances for many metal workers. During this violent era, bronze-smiths first learned how to make weapons by refining, smelting, and casting metallic ores.

The Bronze Age is a flexible term due to the various cultures developing metal work during different times. The Bronze Age term is a misnomer because copper weapons rather than true bronze weapons were employed for combat. This bronze warfare era has been sub-categorized by a few professional historians as the Chalcolithic Age. Copper metallurgy was known in China and the Eastern Mediterranean between 3500 BCE and 2500 BCE. By 2000 BCE, copper and bronze weapons usage spread throughout Europe and it developed independently in South Africa.

Archaeological discoveries since the 1960s have altered previous theories concerning the technological origins of copper and bronze weapons. While it had been argued that the use of bronze had originated in the Middle East, discoveries near Ban Chiang, Thailand, indicate that bronze tools and weapons were known there as early as 3500 BCE. This preceded the working of bronze’s weapons and tools in the Middle East by several hundred years.

Bronze’s weapons and tools have been found in Asia Minor dating 3000 BCE. At first this alloy was used sparingly, mostly for decorative purposes; the tin needed to make it was not available in the region. Regular imports of tin from Cornwall in Britain during the 2nd millennium BCE, however, made possible wider use of bronze in the Middle East, and it was eventually utilized for tools and weapons.

Raw copper was being pounded into tools, ornaments, and weapons as early as 10,000 BCE. While bronze was not made at that time, later discoveries at Rudna Glavna, in what is now Serbia, have shown that copper was in use there in 3500 BCE. By 3000 BCE bronze began to be used in Greece. In China the Bronze Age did not begin until 1800 BCE. The pre-Columbian civilizations of the Americas had no bronze technology until about AD 1000.

The Bronze Age in the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean has been divided into three phases: early, middle, and late. The early phase is characterized by increased use of the metal, from the sporadic to the common. It was the time of the Sumerian civilization and the rise of Akkad to prominence in Mesopotamia; it also generated the spectacular treasures of Troy. Babylon reached its height of glory during the middle Bronze Age. Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece were major late-Bronze-Age civilizations. The Bronze Age there ended about 1200 BCE, after which iron technology became common.

Chinese bronze age weapons

Weapon, a visual history of arms and armor

The end of the Bronze Age, changes in warfare and the catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C.

The bronze age

Middle Bronze Age weapons in Ireland