Artefacts of The Bronze Age

Artefacts of The Bronze Age

Finds of Bronze-age weapons include daggers,

halberds, spearheads and flat axes. These axe heads

were sometimes decorated spirals or zigzagging and

have been as far away as Britain and Scandinavia.

The axes are heavy and this is an indication that

copper was in good supply in Ireland.

 

 

The grave goods include well made stone battle axes,

metal daggers with elaborately decorated hilts, and

precious ornaments of gold and amber - these are

some of the loveliest prehistoric objects ever to be

found in Britain. Among the golden cups found in the

graves, some were found that were so like those of

the Mycenae that they are used as examples to prove

the existence of trade between Wessex and Greece.

Task 1 : Watch this video and describe how 'Smelting' works 

 

Click This Link

Task 2 : Draw and Title the artefacts images that you find on the above link

Task 3 : Using the above link, look at the 'Metalworking' and list the artefacts that are mentioned 

The use of the first bronze tools was an important

moment. Bronze has to be made by heating the

copper until it is liquid and adding tin. The molten

bronze can then be cast into a wider range of shapes

than is possible by flaking flint or grinding stone.

Bronze is also very hard and long lasting. Controlling

where copper and tin were mined, or controlling who

got bronze tools, could be an important way to gain

wealth and power. There were some new artefacts in

this period. New kinds of pottery were added to

existing types, such as Food Vessels and Collared

Urns. A new kind of flint tool was the flint dagger,

copying the shape of early bronze daggers. The main

change was the use of bronze tools. These included

axeheads, knives, daggers, spears, razors and

jewellery.

Food Vessels are pots with a flat base, a complex and

highly decorated rim with a flat edge sloping inwards.

They sometime have lugs which make them look as

though they could have been hung by string from a

roof beam or over a fire.

Collared Urns have a flat, narrow base that expand

upwards to a wide rim that has a thick, decorated

collar. Used as cremation urns.

Metalworking, introduced into Ireland about 4,000

 

years ago, involves the technologies of prospecting,

 

mining, smelting, manufacturing and decorating. The

 

first metal objects were made from native copper. It

 

would later be mixed with tin imported from

 

Cornwall, to make bronze, a harder metal than pure

 

copper. Magnificent artefacts would also be made

 

from native gold.