Editing Bronze (section)

==History==
[[File:ALB - Hortfund Groß Gaglow.jpg|thumb|Hoard of bronze socketed axes from the [[Bronze Age]] found in modern Germany. This was the most common tool of the period, and also seems to have been used as a store of value.]]
[[File:Magical Roman Nails.jpg|thumb|Roman bronze nails with magical signs and inscriptions, 3rd-4th century AD.]]

The discovery of bronze enabled people to create metal objects that were harder and more durable than had previously been possible. Bronze [[tool]]s, [[weapon]]s, [[armor]], and [[building material]]s such as decorative tiles were harder and more durable than their stone and copper ("[[Chalcolithic]]") predecessors. Initially, bronze was made out of copper and [[arsenic]] or from naturally or artificially mixed ores of those metals, forming [[arsenic bronze]].<ref>
{{cite book|title=A History of Metallurgy, Second Edition|last=Tylecote|first=R.F.|year=1992|publisher=Maney Publishing, for the Institute of Materials|location=London|isbn=978-1-902653-79-2|url=http://m.friendfeed-media.com/450c6f3cdc92be9e19ecd285bd7f809a9ae1d4d5|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402174311/http://m.friendfeed-media.com/450c6f3cdc92be9e19ecd285bd7f809a9ae1d4d5|archive-date=2015-04-02}}</ref>

The earliest known arsenic-copper-alloy [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]] come from a Yahya Culture (Period V 3800-3400 BCE) site, at Tal-i-Iblis on the [[Iranian plateau]], and were smelted from native arsenical copper and copper-arsenides, such as [[algodonite]] and [[domeykite]].<ref name="Thornton, 2002" >{{cite journal|last1=Thornton |first1=C.|last2=Lamberg-Karlovsky |first2=C.C.|last3=Liezers|first3=M.|last4=Young|first4=S.M.M.|year=2002|title=On pins and needles: tracing the evolution of copper-based alloying at Tepe Yahya, Iran, via ICP-MS analysis of Common-place items.|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|volume=29|issue=12|pages=1451–60|ref=Thornton, 2002|doi=10.1006/jasc.2002.0809|bibcode=2002JArSc..29.1451T }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Expedition Magazine {{!}} The Early Bronze Age of Iran as Seen from Tepe Yahya |url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-early-bronze-age-of-iran-as-seen-from-tepe-yahya/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |magazine=Expedition Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

The earliest tin-copper-alloy artifact has been dated to {{Circa|4650 BCE}}, in a [[Vinča culture]] site in [[Pločnik (archaeological site)|Pločnik]] ([[Serbia]]), and believed to have been smelted from a natural tin-copper ore, [[stannite]].<ref name=antiquity1312/>

Other early examples date to the late [[History of Africa#Metallurgy|4th millennium BCE]] in [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], [[Susa]] (Iran) and some ancient sites in China, [[Luristan]] (Iran), [[Tepe Sialk]] (Iran), [[Mundigak]] (Afghanistan), and [[Mesopotamia]] (Iraq).<ref name="Thornton, 2002" /><ref>{{cite book|first=Daniel T.|last=Potts|title=Mesopotamian Civilization: The Material Foundations|publisher= Athlone Press|location=London|year=1997|isbn=978-0-48593-001-6|page=169}}</ref>

Tin bronze was superior to arsenic bronze in that the alloying process could be more easily controlled, and the resulting alloy was stronger and easier to cast. Also, [[Arsenic poisoning|unlike those of arsenic]], metallic tin and the fumes from tin refining are [[Tin poisoning|not toxic]].

[[Tin]] became the major non-copper ingredient of bronze in the late 3rd millennium BCE.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kaufman |first1=Brett |title=Metallurgy and Ecological Change in the Ancient Near East |url=https://www.academia.edu/download/28810743/Kaufman_Metallurgy_and_Ecological_Change_in_the_Ancient_Near_East__Backdirt_2011.pdf |journal=Backdirt: Annual Review |volume=2011 |page=86}}</ref> [[Ore]]s of copper and the far rarer tin are not often found together (exceptions include [[Cornwall]] in the United Kingdom, one ancient site in Thailand and one in Iran), so serious bronze work has always involved trade with other regions. [[Tin sources and trade in ancient times]] had a major influence on the development of cultures. In Europe, a major source of tin was the British deposits of ore in [[Cornwall]], which were traded as far as [[Phoenicia]] in the eastern [[Mediterranean]]. In many parts of the world, large hoards of bronze artifacts are found, suggesting that bronze also represented a [[store of value]] and an indicator of social status. In Europe, large hoards of bronze tools, typically socketed axes (illustrated above), are found, which mostly show no signs of wear. With [[Chinese ritual bronze]]s, which are documented in the inscriptions they carry and from other sources, the case is clear. These were made in enormous quantities for elite burials, and also used by the living for ritual offerings.

===Transition to iron===
Though bronze, whose [[Vickers hardness test|Vickers hardness]] is 60–258, is generally harder than [[wrought iron]], with  a hardness of 30–80,<ref>''Smithells Metals Reference Book'', 8th Edition, ch. 22</ref> the [[Bronze Age]] gave way to the [[Iron Age]] after a serious disruption of the tin trade: the [[Late Bronze Age collapse|population migrations of around 1200–1100 BCE]] reduced the shipment of tin around the Mediterranean and from Britain, limiting supplies and raising prices.<ref>{{cite web |first=Clayton E. |last=Cramer |url=http://www.claytoncramer.com/unpublished/Iron2.pdf |title=What Caused The Iron Age?|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101228194159/http://www.claytoncramer.com/unpublished/Iron2.pdf |archive-date=2010-12-28 |website=claytoncramer.com |date=10 December 1995}}</ref> As the art of working in iron improved, iron became cheaper and improved in quality. As later cultures advanced from hand-[[wrought iron]] to machine-[[Finery forge|forged iron]] (typically made with [[trip hammer]]s powered by water), blacksmiths also learned how to make [[steel]], which is stronger and harder than bronze and holds a sharper edge longer.<ref>{{cite web |first1=O. D. |last1=Sherby |first2=J. |last2=Wadsworth |url=http://www.llnl.gov/tid/lof/documents/pdf/238547.pdf |title=Ancient Blacksmiths, the Iron Age, Damascus Steels, and Modern Metallurgy |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626190201/http://www.llnl.gov/tid/lof/documents/pdf/238547.pdf |archive-date=2007-06-26 |series=Thermec 2000 |publisher=U.S. Department of Commerce |location=Las Vegas, Nevada |date=2000 |access-date=24 August 2022}}</ref> Bronze was still used during the Iron Age and has continued in use for many purposes to the modern day.