Editing Bronze Age (section)

== Metal use ==
{{Further|Tin sources and trade during antiquity}}
Bronze Age civilisations gained a technological advantage due to [[bronze]]'s harder and more durable properties than other [[metal]]s available at the time. While terrestrial iron is naturally abundant, the higher temperature required for smelting, {{cvt|1250|C}}, in addition to the greater difficulty of working with it, placed it out of reach of common use until the end of the 2nd millennium&nbsp;BCE.<ref name=":0" /> Tin's lower melting point of {{cvt|232|C}} and copper's moderate melting point of {{cvt|1085|C}} placed both these metals within the capabilities of Neolithic pottery [[kiln]]s, which date to 6000&nbsp;BCE and were able to produce temperatures of at least {{cvt|900|C}}.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=McClellan III |first1=James E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YnqLfVRJ3AkC |title=Science and Technology in World History |last2=Dorn |first2=Harold |date=2006-04-14 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-8360-6 |edition=2nd |location=Baltimore |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YnqLfVRJ3AkC&pg=PA21 21]}}</ref>

[[File:Metallurgical diffusion.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Diffusion of [[metallurgy]] in Europe and [[Asia Minor]]—the darkest areas are the oldest.]]
The Bronze Age is characterised by the widespread use of bronze, though the introduction and development of bronze technology were not universally synchronous. Bronze was independently discovered in the [[Maykop culture]] of the [[North Caucasus]] as early as the mid-4th millennium&nbsp;BC, which makes them the producers of the oldest-known bronze. However, the Maykop culture only had [[arsenical bronze]]. Other regions developed bronze and its associated technology at different periods. Tin bronze technology requires systematic techniques: tin must be mined (mainly as the tin ore [[cassiterite]]) and smelted separately, then added to hot copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of extensive use of metals and the development of trade networks.

A 2013 report suggests that the earliest tin-alloy bronze was a [[foil (metal)|foil]] dated to the mid-5th millennium&nbsp;BCE from a [[Vinča culture]] site in [[Pločnik (archaeological site)|Pločnik]], [[Serbia]], although this culture is not conventionally considered part of the Bronze Age;<ref name="Radivojevic2013">{{Cite journal |last1=Radivojevic |first1=M. |last2=Rehren |first2=T. |last3=Kuzmanovic-Cvetkovic |first3=J. |last4=Jovanovic |first4=M. |last5=Northover |first5=J. P. |year=2013 |title=Tainted ores and the rise of tin bronzes in Eurasia, c. 6500 years ago |url=http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1420706/ |journal=Antiquity |volume=87 |issue=338 |pages=1030–1045 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X0004984X |doi-access=free}}</ref> however, the dating of the foil has been disputed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sljivar |first1=D. |last2=Boric |first2=D. |display-authors=et al |year=2014 |title=Context is everything: comments on Radivojevic et al. (2013) |journal=Antiquity |volume=88 |issue=342 |pages=1310–1315 |doi=10.1017/s0003598x00115480 |s2cid=163137272}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Radivojevic |first1=M. |last2=Rehren |first2=Th. |last3=Kuzmanovic-Cvetkovic |first3=J. |last4=Jovanovic |first4=M. |year=2014 |title=Context is everything indeed: a response to Sljivar and Boric |journal=Antiquity |volume=88 |issue=342 |pages=1315–1319 |doi=10.1017/s0003598x00115492 |s2cid=163091248}}</ref>