Editing Bronze Age (section)

=== Egypt ===
{{Main|Ancient Egypt}}

==== Early Bronze dynasties ====
[[File:Egypt, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18 - Caryatid Mirror - 1983.196 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif|thumb|upright|Bronze mirror with a female human figure at the base, [[Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt]] (1540–1296&nbsp;BCE)]]
[[File:Thutmose III sphinx E10897-Louvre 042005 06.jpg|thumb|upright|Sphinx-lion of [[Thutmose III]] (1479–1425&nbsp;BCE)]]

In [[Ancient Egypt]], the Bronze Age began in the [[Protodynastic Period]] {{circa|3150&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E. The archaic ''Early Bronze Age of Egypt'', known as the [[Early Dynastic Period of Egypt]],<ref name="Karin Sowada and Peter Grave">Karin Sowada and Peter Grave. ''Egypt in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Old Kingdom''.</ref><ref>Lukas de Blois and R. J. van der Spek. ''An Introduction to the Ancient World''. p.&nbsp;14.</ref> immediately followed the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt, {{circa|3100&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E. It is generally taken to include the [[First Dynasty of Egypt|First]] and [[Second Dynasty of Egypt|Second]] dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period until {{circa|2686&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E, or the beginning of the [[Old Kingdom]]. With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]] to Memphis with a unified Egypt ruled by an Egyptian god-king. Abydos remained the major holy land in the south. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilisation, such as art, architecture and religion, took shape in the Early Dynastic Period. [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]], in the Early Bronze Age, was the largest city of the time. The Old Kingdom of the regional Bronze Age<ref name="Karin Sowada and Peter Grave" /> is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium&nbsp;BCE when Egyptian civilisation attained its first continuous peak of complexity and achievement—the first of three "Kingdom" periods which marked the high points of civilisation in the [[Geography of Egypt#Nile Valley and Delta|lower Nile Valley]] (the others being the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]] and [[New Kingdom]]).

The [[First Intermediate Period of Egypt]],<ref>Hansen, M. (2000). ''A comparative study of thirty city-state cultures: An investigation conducted by the Copenhagen Polis Centre''. Copenhagen, Denmark: Det Kongelike Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. p. 68.</ref> often described as a "dark period" in ancient Egyptian history, spanned about 100 years after the end of the Old Kingdom from about 2181 to 2055&nbsp;BCE. Very little monumental evidence survives from this period, especially from the early part of it. The First Intermediate Period was a dynamic time when the rule of Egypt was roughly divided between two areas: [[Heracleopolis Magna|Heracleopolis]] in Lower Egypt and [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] in Upper Egypt. These two kingdoms eventually came into conflict, and the Theban kings conquered the north, reunifying Egypt under a single ruler during the second part of the [[Eleventh Dynasty]].

==== Nubia ====
The Bronze Age in [[Nubia]] started as early as 2300&nbsp;BCE.<ref name="Childs1993">{{Cite journal |last1=Childs |first1=S. Terry |last2=Killick |first2=David |year=1993 |title=Indigenous African Metallurgy: Nature and Culture |journal=Annual Review of Anthropology |volume=22 |pages=317–337 |doi=10.1146/annurev.anthro.22.1.317 |jstor=2155851}}</ref> Egyptians introduced copper smelting to the Nubian city of [[Meroë]] in present-day [[Sudan]] {{circa|2600&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E.<ref name="Miller1994" /> A furnace for bronze casting found in [[Kerma]] has been dated to 2300–1900&nbsp;BCE.<ref name="Childs1993" />

==== Middle Bronze dynasties ====
The [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt]] spanned between 2055 and 1650&nbsp;BCE. During this period, the Osiris funerary cult rose to dominate popular [[Ancient Egyptian religion]]. The period comprises two phases: the Eleventh Dynasty, which ruled from Thebes, and the [[Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt|Twelfth]]<ref>Othmar Keel and Christoph Uehlinger. ''Gods, goddesses, and images of God in ancient Israel'', 1998. p.&nbsp;17. "The first phase (Middle Bronze Age IIA) runs roughly parallel to the Egyptian Twelfth Dynasty".</ref> and [[Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Thirteenth]] dynasties, centred on [[el-Lisht]]. The unified kingdom was previously considered to comprise the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties, but historians now consider part of the Thirteenth Dynasty to have belonged to the Middle Kingdom.

During the [[Second Intermediate Period]],<ref>Bruce G. Trigger. ''Ancient Egypt: A Social History''. 1983. p.&nbsp;137. "...&nbsp;for the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period it is the Middle Bronze Age".</ref> Ancient Egypt fell into disarray a second time between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom, best known for the [[Hyksos]], whose reign comprised the [[Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Fifteenth]] and [[Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Sixteenth]] dynasties. The Hyksos first appeared in Egypt during the Eleventh Dynasty, began their climb to power in the Thirteenth Dynasty, and emerged from the Second Intermediate Period in control of [[Avaris]] and the [[Nile Delta]]. By the Fifteenth Dynasty, they ruled lower Egypt. They were expelled at the end of the [[Seventeenth Dynasty]].

==== Late Bronze dynasties ====
The [[New Kingdom of Egypt]], also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, existed during the 16th–11th centuries&nbsp;BCE. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the [[Third Intermediate Period]]. It was Egypt's most prosperous time and marked the peak of Egypt's power. The later New Kingdom, comprising the [[Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Nineteenth]] and [[Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt|Twentieth]] dynasties (1292–1069&nbsp;BCE), is also known as the [[Ramesside period]], after the eleven pharaohs who took the name of Ramesses.