Around 2300 BC, people expanded their knowledge of metallurgy. They discovered that copper becomes significantly harder and more durable when mixed with tin. Suddenly, it was possible to produce entirely new tools and weapons. The copper came from the Alps, the tin from England. In charcoal furnaces reaching temperatures of 1100°C, bronze casters melted copper together with around 10 per cent tin to produce bronze. Using moulds made of sandstone and clay, they cast axes, sickles, arrowheads and spearheads, knives and even long swords. The Bronze Age began. It replaced the Copper Age. Stone tools were out of fashion, bronze was the material of the moment. Gold-glinting jewellery – necklaces and bracelets, rings, hairpins, brooches – came into fashion and was mass-produced. Beautiful decorations could be applied using punches. Trade flourished. And special objects, such as magnificent helmets and swords, became status symbols. Bronze objects from Lake Constance were popular throughout Europe.

 

House type:

Single-room Bronze Age log cabin (c. 1000 BC), walls made of bog pine.

Reconstructed:

1931/1977, based on excavations at the „Wasserburg Buchau“, Federsee moor, 1921–1937.

 

It’s all in the mix

It shines like gold and is easy to work with: bronze. And it was so valuable that it gave its name to an entire era. During the Bronze Age, people discovered that molten copper mixed with a little tin makes a perfect alloy. The more tin, the harder the bronze. For jewellery, 5 g of tin per 100 g of copper was sufficient. This allowed necklaces or bracelets to be bent into shape and adorned with fine decorations. Swords or axes, on the other hand, had to be much harder and more durable. They required twice the amount of tin.

What kind of object would you cast from bronze?