The Bronze Age covers a massive swath of human history. Spanning from about 5500 BC to 650 BC, there was a lot going on around the world. Human society was really laying the groundwork for what was to come, and a lot of remarkably important inventions and concepts were being created. Even though by today’s standards this time period seems all but prehistoric, there were a lot of amazing things going on worth knowing about.
10. The Earliest Writing Was Developed
Communication is one of the clear and distinct ways that humankind has been able to separate itself from the animal kingdom. As much as some people think their dogs can say hello or otherwise speak, nothing has come close to language as developed by humans. And a big part of the evolution of language has been the written word.
The earliest form of writing dates back to the 34th century BC. Cuneiform script was developed in Sumeria, somewhere around present-day Iraq. This early form of writing gave rise to the writing used by numerous later civilizations including the Akkadians, the Hittites, the Elamites, and many others. It was the basis for some early alphabets that were used in that part of the world as well.
Though the language faded away about 2,000 years ago, it remained in active use for about 3,000 years making it one of the longest used languages in history.
9. Civilization Began
You could make a strong case that civilization itself was born during the Bronze Age. The Sumerians were the first people to show up in Mesopotamia where they built cities and created many of the technological advancements that would go on to allow humankind to thrive and grow beyond whatever kind of simple people we may have been before. The Sumerians didn’t just create writing, they mastered agriculture, learned how to control the flow of water, and created the foundations of religion.
Had the Sumerians not settled in what we would refer to today as the Fertile Crescent, our society likely never would have risen to the heights that it did and many of the advancements they made would have been pushed back much later in history.
8. Beaker People Brought Beer to Britain
If you’re a fan of beer then you have to give some respect to the Bronze Age. Beer, and its precursor mead which is just a fermented honey and water brew that’ll get you plenty tipsy, date back to the Bronze Age when the Bell Beaker people brought it to Western Europe. The Beaker people got their name from the shape of the cups that they drank from. That ought to tell you how important drinking was to these people since they were named after the way they did it.
Archaeologists have uncovered some of their beaker drinking vessels and found traces of bee pollen and honey wines inside of them. There’s also evidence that they were growing barley to make beer as well. As for what happened to the Beaker people, it’s speculated that perhaps they are the ancestors of the Celts.
7. Law Began
Unless you consider yourself an outlaw you’re probably thankful that we live in a society that has at least some laws in place to help keep us safe. Arguably society can’t work without laws and no matter how civilization was formed we would have come up with a code of conduct eventually, but the basics of law were constructed during the Bronze Age.
Known as the Code of Hammurabi, this Babylonian text dates back to the year 1754 BC. The Babylonian King Hammurabi created the code which is made up of 282 laws including punishments for violating them. They even had a punishment scale for how the same crime could be dealt with based on the social status of the person who committed it. That means a high society merchant might end up getting off with much more leniency than a slave even if both of them committed the same act. No one said the laws were perfect back then, but they were a first attempt.
Many of the laws enacted by King Hammurabi related to contracts between individuals. This included things like how wages were to be paid for certain services as well as how liability could be meted out if you performed a task for someone and it proved to be substandard.
6. China’s Female General
Historically speaking, war has been the purview of men. The Pentagon had a ban on women in active combat roles that wasn’t lifted until the year 2013. Although other countries around the world have been more liberal about allowing women to serve, when you go back through history you’ll still see women in combat as the exception to the rule, not the standard practice by any means. Despite that, the Bronze Age did offer up at least one significant female warrior to go toe-to-toe with her male counterparts.
Fu Hao lived during the Shang Dynasty in ancient China which spanned from 1600 BC until 1046 BC. During that time she became the only female head of the army. At the time she was married to the king which likely allowed her to serve as a military leader without a lot of pushback from others.
Little is known about her time as a military leader since she existed before the invention of paper so they weren’t writing down much of her conquests. What is known based on inscriptions made in bone artifacts that were interred with her is that she led several military campaigns successfully and even conquered a rival clan with which they had been at war for many generations. Word is that she commanded 13,000 soldiers
5. World’s Oldest Board Game
The video game industry in the year 2020 was worth about $60 billion in the US. Video games, of course, evolved out of board games which can be traced all the way back to the Bronze Age.
The oldest board game ever discovered dates back about five thousand years and was discovered in a tomb in Turkey. Many pieces were found in a set, carved to look like pyramids, pigs, dogs, and other shapes. It’s believed these were game board pieces like the thimble and the race car from Monopoly.
Archaeologists had previously found similar stones and other burial sites but they had been lone examples and had been dismissed as perhaps counting stones or something similar. The burial site in Turkey was the first time a complete set was ever found together. In total, 49 pieces were discovered and they were grouped in fours.
4. The Nebra Sky Disc
Back in 1999, some amateur treasure hunters with nothing more than a metal detector stumbled upon something just outside of the town of Nebra, Germany. About the size of a large dinner plate, the Nebra Sky Disc is covered in gold leaf symbols that make up a sky scene including the sun, a crescent moon, and some stars.
The disc dates back to around the year 1600 BC and it’s made of bronze. Although the disc has sustained some damage, those who have studied it have concluded that it’s probably a representation of the sky that may have been part of the system for understanding planting and harvest times, or some kind of astronomical clock part. The stars on the disc are arranged in the form of the Pleiades constellation. The constellation would have been visible to people in Mesopotamia in the autumn, which would have been a harvest time.
The exact nature of the disc is still the subject of some debate since it was discovered under unusual circumstances. But for the most part is believed to be a legitimate example of a Bronze Age artifact and the earliest known depiction of the heavens that demonstrates a clear knowledge and understanding of astrological knowledge.
3. Soap Was Invented
Humans have existed for about 200,000 years, or at least as anything that we would understand is human by today’s standards. And while we have come a long way since back then, it was not without a lot of struggle. Take for instance the fact that soap wasn’t invented until about the year 2800 BC.
Another invention from ancient Mesopotamia that really set the groundwork for so much of what we take for granted today, the history of the substance is a bit murky. It’s not clear who exactly invented soap, whether it was Babylonians or Sumerians, but at least somebody took the time to figure out how to get clean after so many thousands of years of dirty humans.
The nearest we can figure, ancient soap likely wasn’t used to improve the hygiene of the masses. Sumerian priests would have used soap to purify themselves before certain rituals. Beyond that, ancient forms of soap made from animal fat and wood ash were likely used to clean wool.
There are Mesopotamian recipes for making soap that were written on cuneiform tablets but still exist. the ancient Egyptians also had soap recipes that involved mixing salt and oil. Other recipes include using sesame oil and Cypress extract. So the scented soap Market of today has some strong historical roots.
2. The Mysterious Sea Peoples
The Bronze Era arguably collapsed for several reasons but one of the things considered a major factor in the end of this period was the Sea Peoples. Between the years 1276 and 1178 BC, the Sea Peoples were raiding cities across the Mediterranean region. Most of the historical records of the Sea Peoples come from Egypt as the Egyptians were a favorite target of these mysterious raiders so they kept some records of their activities.
Even though they are considered a cause of the downfall of an entire era, almost nothing is known about the Sea Peoples. For instance, we have no idea where they came from. Egyptian records detail them only in terms of the battles that were fought against them. They were people who came with warships in great numbers and with great strength. The Egyptian forces were unable to stand against them when they were raided by them.
Historians have tried to pin down where the Sea Peoples may have come from and many theories have been thrown out. The idea that they were Italian, Mycenaean, Minoan, Philistine, and Trojans have all been considered. But the fact remains the people of the Bronze Age had no idea where they came from, and people today have no idea either.
1. The Wheel Was Invented
Solid cases could be made that inventions such as the printing press or the computer are the greatest in history. But just as important, if not more so, was the humble wheel. Invented sometime in the 4th millennium BC, it’s arguable that civilization could never really have gotten going without the use of the wheel.
Aside from being used in travel with wagons, wheels have also been integral to agriculture as well. Millling in particular would not have gotten very far without the wheel.
The most curious fact about the wheel is the fact that even though we know about when it was invented, we don’t know exactly where or by whom because it seems to have been an instance of parallel thinking. It looks like the Sumerians invented the wheel around the same time as it was created by the Maykop culture in the northern Caucasus and somewhere in Central Europe as well.