Tin bronze
Bronce estañífero (aleación cobre-estaño)
- Date
- c. 3200 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Pločnik / Carpathians, Serbia; Anatolia and Susa, Iran; Mesopotamia
- Credited to
- Metalworkers of the Balkans, Anatolia and Elam (multiple origins)
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Alloy of copper with 5-12% tin, harder than copper or arsenical bronze, easier to cast and golden in colour. It gave its name to the age and depended on scarce tin (Cornwall, Afghanistan, Bohemia, Anatolia), which forced long-distance trade.
Very early tin bronze at Pločnik (Serbia, c. 4650 BCE) appears to be an isolated episode without continuity. Its systematic adoption occurs c. 3200-3000 BCE in Anatolia, Susa and Mesopotamia; China develops it independently or through steppe diffusion around 2000-1700 BCE (Erlitou).
What it led to
- Long-distance tin trade connecting Afghanistan, Anatolia, Bohemia and Cornwall with the cities of the Near East
- Superior weapons and tools that gave a military advantage to whoever controlled the metal routes
- Specialised workshops dependent on the palace and stratification between metallurgical elites and peasants
- Economic interdependence whose collapse contributed to the Late Bronze Age collapse (c. 1200 BCE)
Built on
Made possible
- Lost-wax castingc. 3700 BCE
- Swordc. 3300 BCE
- Metal helmet and scale armourc. 1700 BCE
- Nebra sky discc. 1600 BCE
- Chinese ritual bronze (piece-mould casting)c. 1600 BCE
- Early ironworking (bloomery iron)c. 1400 BCE
- Ban Chiang bronze metallurgyc. 1000 BCE
- Helmet and scale armour
- Lost-wax mould
- Bronze carpentry tools