2. Bronze Age

Bronze Age is the earliest age of the Ancient Historic period which spans from 3300 BC to 1200 BC and that was characterized by the advancement of metal working, where it was discovered with the introduction of bronze, a hard alloy formed by smelting of copper along with the mixing of tin in it. Bronze itself is harder and more durable than other metals available at that time, allowing Bronze Age civilizations to gain a technological advantage. For some civilizations, the Bronze age marked the end of prehistory due to the development of writing methods.

Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development in which they practiced intensive years round agriculture, developed a writing system, invented the potter's wheel, created a centralized government, written law codes, city and nation states and empires, embarked on advanced architectural projects, introduced social stratification, economic and civil administration, slavery and also have practiced organized warfare, medicine and religions and at last they also laid foundations for astronomy, astrology and mathematics.

Cuneiform Script

Hieroglyphs Script

The Bronze Age was a time of extensive use of metals and of developing trade networks. Western Asia and the Near East was the first region to enter the Bronze Age, which began in the mid of 4^th millennium BC with the rise of the Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer which was often called as “The Cradle Of Civilization”. Bronze age cultures differed in their development of the first writing system. According to Archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed their own earliest variable writing systems such as cuneiform scripts and hieroglyphs respectively.

Mesopotamian Civilization

In most areas of civilization, Bronze smelting became a foundation for more advanced societies. For now, modern historians have identified 5 prominent Bronze Age civilizations which had emerged in that time period and they are :-

>> Sumer in the Fertile Crescent / Mesopotamia

>> Indus Valley in the Indo-Gangetic Plain

>> Erlitou in the North China Plain

>> Olmec in Mesoamerica

>> Norte Chico in the Andes / Greece.

By the end of the Bronze Age large states which are often called empires, interacted with each other trough trade, warfare, migration and the spread of ideas. The Bronze age ended abruptly around 1200 BC. Historians don't know for sure what caused the Bronze Age collapse other than when human began to forge an even more stronger metal called Iron but many believe that transition was sudden violent and culturally disruptive.