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The Bronze Age

Hello friends, welcome to a new Happy Learning video. Today we are going to learn about the last prehistoric period. Let’s learn about the Bronze Age.

The Bronze Age began approximately 6.500 years before Christ, when man kind started to use different types of metals instead of stones to make tools.

The first metal which was used was copper, then bronze, which is a mixture of copper and tin, and then finally iron, which is a much more abundant mineral and therefore easier to find in nature.

In order to mold these metals, they were melted at extremely high temperatures and then transformed into the desired shape. This is how utensils such as fire arms, tools and decorations were made. This process is called metallurgy.

Through metallurgy crafts and trade began. The metallurgists were the first specialized craftsmen, as metallurgy is a very complex and difficult task which few knew how to do. The rise of the agrarian production and the appearance of crafts caused bartering that is the exchanging of products. This is when trade began. Trades, in time, made some villages grow, in size turning into cities.

This then created large commercial and cultural exchange between these new cities and new inventions such as sail boats and wagons used to transport goods were made. Trade also changed society by creating social classes, the rich and the poor, the powerful and the slaves.

During the Bronze Age, people began questioning the mysteries of life as well as death and the first religious representations arose. Constructions called megaliths were created with large blocks of Stone. Mega meaning large and liths Stone.

The simplest megalith was the menhir, a large Stone riveted vertically into the ground. Dolmens were also constructed such as the ones seen in these images.

The Bronze Age ended with the appearance of writing about 4000 years ago, but that is a different story.