Editing Bronze Age (section)

=== Western Europe ===

==== Great Britain ====
{{Main|Bronze Age Britain}}
[[File:Tarian Rhyd y Gors- Rhyd y Gors Shield.jpg|thumb|Bronze shield, [[Bronze Age Britain]], 1300–1000&nbsp;BCE]]

In Great Britain, the Bronze Age is considered to have been the period from {{circa|2100|lk=no}} to 750&nbsp;BCE. Migration brought new people to the islands from the continent.<ref name="Barras2019">{{Cite news |last=Barras |first=Colin |date=27 March 2019 |title=Story of most murderous people of all time revealed in ancient DNA |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24132230-200-story-of-most-murderous-people-of-all-time-revealed-in-ancient-dna/ |work=[[New Scientist]]}}</ref> Tooth enamel isotope research on bodies found in early Bronze Age graves around [[Stonehenge]] indicates that at least some of the migrants came from the area of present-day Switzerland. Another example site is [[Must Farm]] near [[Whittlesey]], host to the most complete Bronze Age wheel ever to be found. The [[Beaker culture]] displayed different behaviours from earlier Neolithic people, and cultural change was significant. Integration is thought to have been peaceful, as many of the early [[henge]] sites were seemingly adopted by the newcomers. The rich [[Wessex culture]] developed in southern Britain at this time. Additionally, the climate was deteriorating; where once the weather was warm and dry it became much wetter as the Bronze Age continued, forcing the population away from easily defended sites in the hills and into the fertile valleys. Large livestock farms developed in the lowlands and appear to have contributed to economic growth and inspired increasing forest clearances. The [[Deverel-Rimbury culture]] began to emerge in the second half of the Middle Bronze Age ({{circa|1400–1100&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E) to exploit these conditions. [[Devon]] and [[Cornwall]] were major sources of tin for much of western Europe and copper was extracted from sites such as the [[Great Orme]] mine in northern [[Wales]]. Social groups appear to have been tribal but with growing complexity and hierarchies becoming apparent.

The burials, which until this period had usually been communal, became more individual. For example, whereas in the Neolithic a large [[chambered cairn]] or [[long barrow]] housed the dead, Early Bronze Age people buried their dead in individual barrows (commonly known and marked on modern British [[Ordnance Survey]] maps as tumuli), or sometimes in [[cist]]s covered with [[cairn]]s.

The greatest quantities of bronze objects in England were discovered in [[East Cambridgeshire]], with the most important finds being the 6500-piece [[Isleham Hoard]].<ref>Hall & Coles, pp.&nbsp;81–88.</ref> Alloying of copper with tin to make bronze was practiced soon after the discovery of copper. The techniques needed to deliberately alloy copper with zinc to form brass first arrived in Great Britain late in the first millennium BCE.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Craddock |first1=Paul |last2=Cowell |first2=Michael |last3=Stead |first3=Ian |date=September 2004 |title=Britain's First Brass |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquaries-journal/article/abs/britains-first-brass/AEC54C662CC845964E413F91F046D30A |journal=The Antiquaries Journal |language=en |volume=84 |pages=339–346 |doi=10.1017/S000358150004587X |issn=1758-5309}}</ref> One copper mine at Great Orme in North Wales, reached a depth of 70 metres.<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Brien |first=W. |title=Bronze Age Copper Mining in Britain and Ireland |publisher=Shir |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-7478-0321-8}}</ref> At [[Alderley Edge]] in Cheshire, carbon dating has established mining at around 2280 to 1890&nbsp;BCE with a 95% probability.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Timberlake |first1=S. |title=The Archaeology of Alderley Edge: Survey, excavation and experiment in an ancient mining landscape |last2=Prag |first2=A. J. N. W. |publisher=John and Erica Hedges |year=2005 |isbn=978-1841717159 |location=Oxford |page=396 |doi=10.30861/9781841717159}}</ref> The earliest identified metalworking site (Sigwells, Somerset) came much later, dated by globular urn-style pottery to {{circa|the 12th century&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E. The identifiable [[sherds]] from over 500 mould fragments included a perfect fit of the hilt of a sword in the Wilburton style held in [[Somerset County Museum]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tabor |first=Richard |title=Cadbury Castle: A hillfort and landscapes |publisher=The History Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7524-4715-5 |location=Stroud |pages=61–69}}</ref>

==== Atlantic Bronze Age ====
{{Main|Atlantic Bronze Age}}
[[File:Zwaard van Jutphaas (24466600427).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The Sword of Jutphaas, [[Hilversum culture]], {{circa|1500&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E]]

The Atlantic Bronze Age as cultural geographic region is a cultural complex ({{circa|2100|{{\}}800{{\}}700 cal.&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E) that includes different cultures in the context of the Atlantic Iberian Peninsula (Portugal, Andalucía, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, País Vasco, Navarra and Castilla and León), the Atlantic France, Britain and Ireland, while the [[Atlantic Bronze Age]] as cultural complex of the final phase of the Bronze Age period is dated between {{circa|1350}} and 700&nbsp;BCE. It is marked by economic and cultural exchange. Commercial contacts extend to Denmark and the Mediterranean. The Atlantic Bronze Age was defined by many distinct regional centres of metal production, unified by a regular maritime exchange of products.

==== Ireland ====
{{Main|Prehistoric Ireland#Bronze Age|Atlantic Bronze Age}}
The Bronze Age in Ireland began {{circa|2000&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E when copper was alloyed with tin and used to manufacture Ballybeg type flat axes and associated metalwork. The preceding period is known as the [[Copper Age]] and is characterised by the production of flat axes, daggers, [[halberds]] and [[stitching awl|awls]] in copper. The period is divided into three phases: Early Bronze Age (2000–1500&nbsp;BCE), Middle Bronze Age (1500–1200&nbsp;BCE), and Late Bronze Age (1200{{snd}}{{circa|500&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E). Ireland is known for a relatively large number of Early Bronze Age burials. The country's [[stone circle]]s and [[stone rows]] were built during this period.<ref>Power (1992), p. 23.</ref>

One of the characteristic types of artefacts of the Early Bronze Age in Ireland is the flat axe. There are five main types of flat axes: Lough Ravel crannog ({{circa|2200&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E), Ballybeg ({{circa|2000&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E), Killaha ({{circa|2000&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E), Ballyvalley ({{circa|2000–1600&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E), Derryniggin ({{circa|1600&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E), and a number of metal ingots in the shape of axes.<ref>Waddell; Eogan.</ref>