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8/11/2019 V. Gordon Childe - Article on Bronze Age
1/15
The ast and resent Society
The Bronze AgeAuthor(s): V. Gordon ChildeSource: Past & Present, No. 12 (Nov., 1957), pp. 2-15Published by: Oxford University Presson behalf of The Past and Present Society
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2/15
8/11/2019 V. Gordon Childe - Article on Bronze Age
3/15
THE BRONZE
AGE
3
Mesopotamia.
But
Bronze
Age
means much
morethan
a
techno-
logical
stage.
In thefirst lace of course t did givemenmoreefficient eans
of
production
nd
implements
f destruction.Yet metal
axes or
adzes are
very
ittle
more
efficient
han stone ones
for
tree-felling,
and for
such
rough
work metal
replaced
stone
only very slowly.
Metal
daggers
were
probably
eally
ess
liable to
snap
in close
fight
than flint r
bone
weapons
and
did
replace
these
quite
quickly.
But
saws
-
for
sawing
wood
-
can
only
be made of
metal,
and
without aws
it is hard
to see how
wheels
could be made.
(The
earliest
wheelswere
solid disksof
wood
or
tripartite
isksmade
by
mortising ogether hree shaped planks). Before the European
expansion
wheels,
whether
art-wheelsr
potters'
heels,
were
known
nowhere
n the New
World,
and
in the Old
World
only
n such
regions
s
had once
reached he
Bronze
Stage.
The
pre-European
distributionf
ploughs
lso
coincideswith
he
prehistoric
istribution
of
the Bronze
Stage
so
it
may
be
thatmetal
ools wereessential or
making
his
composite mplement
ven
though
no metal need
be
incorporated
n its
structure.
Thus the whole of
modern
ndustry
based on
rotary
motion s
certainly
ooted n
the
Bronze
Age,
and
agriculture,ncontrastoplot-cultivationith iggingticks rhoes,
may
have started
here oo.
Secondly
t
least two
theoreticalciences
can
be tracedback to
practical
ciences
applied
in
the
Bronze
Age.
The
startling
ran-
substantiationffectedn
smelting
the
reduction
y heating
with
charcoal
carbon)
of
the blue or
green
rystaline
res of
copper
to
the
tough
red
metal is the
prototype
f
all the
chemical
hanges
deliberately
ffected
y
men
nd ndeed f
the
ransmutationf
metals
in
nuclear
hysics. Similarly
n
locating
res
prehistoric
rospectors
musthave reliedupon systematicbservationnd comparison f
surface
eatures uch
as,
more
widely ystematized,
uide
predictive
geologists
o-day.
Thirdly
he
economic
onsequence
f
the
regular
se of
copper,
still
more of
bronze,
n
industry
was the
initiation f
organised
international
rade.
Copper
s farfrom
common
lement;
ts ores
are
mostly
ound n
rough
mountainous r
desert
ountry,
ever n
the
fertile
lluvial
valleys,
6ss-clad
lopes
or
chalk
downs
preferred
by
neolithic
armers. The
Egyptians ot
their
opper
from
inai
or theEasternDesert; some at least of the Sumerians' opperwas
fetched
rom
Oman;
the
best known
prehistoric
mines
n
Central
Europe
re
found
n
the
Eastern
Alps
t
elevations
f
4,000
o
6,ooo
ft.
above the
sea
at theremote
eads of
narrow
ensely
wooded
ravines.
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4/15
4
PAST AND PRESENT
In
Great
Britain f
course
ll
deposits
f
copper
nd
tin
re
couiined
to the
Highland
Zone,
notoriously
region
of difficult
ettlement"
in Fox's words. In briefno neolithic illage s likely o havebeen
situated n
a
copper
ode.
If
the
farmers emanded
metal
tools,
they
had to
mport
he
raw
material rom utside
he
village
erritory.
Now
admittedly
tone
Age savages
nd barbariansn the
Old
World
and their modern
representatives
n
the
Americas,
Australia
nd
Oceania
by
ome ort
f
ntertribal
arter id ecure
oreign
ubstances
-
shells,
colouring
matters,
ven choice stones
ike
obsidian
for
tools.
But
the
objects
of this
Stone
Age
commerce
wvere
eally
luxuries: t a
pinch
the
participants
ould do without
hem.
Only
whendeterminedo use metalfor ssential ools ndweapons, id a
community
bandon its
self-sufficiency,
ecoming
dependent
on
foreign
radefor
necessities.
Fourthly
he
demand for
a
regular upply
of
copper
or
bronze
evoked a novel element n
society,
new
population
f
full-time
specialists
who did
not catch
or
grow
heir
wn
food,
but
relied
for
sustenance n food
produced
y
others. Of course n
recent
tone
Age
societies
we
know
experts
who
specialize
n
flaking
lint
rrow-
heads,
carving
etel-boxes r
exercising
ther rafts. But
these
re
always only part-time pecialists; they are primarilyhunters,
fishermen
r farmers nd excercise
heir
pecial
skills
only
n the
intervals f
getting
heir
own food and
rely
thereon
merely
for
prestige
r
luxuries.
Even
specialists
n
government,
hiefs,
were
generally
n
this sense
part-timers,
s
among
the
Maori.
Metal-
workers
o-day
are
generally
ull-time
pecialists
nd
presumably
preserve
he status
of their
prehistoric
ncestors.
Moreover to
maintain
regular
upply
fmetal t
east
core
f
full-time
pecialists
would be needed
o mine
nd smelt he ores and burn he
necessary
charcoal n the remotemetalliferous ountains r deserts nd to
transport
he metal to the
farming illages.
A
Bronze
Age
pre-
supposes
a
mechanism or the
regular
xtraction nd
distribution
of
metal in a
word,
metallurgicalndustry
staffedt
least
n
part
by
full-time
pecialists.
The new
industry
evealed,
ut
only
in
embryo,
he olution o
thecontradiction
fthe
neolithic
conomy:
the sole means
of
providing
or an
expanding opulation
was
to
bring
reshandunder ultivationr
grazing.
When
ll
land uitable
for
exploitation
y
the
very extravagant
eolithic
echniques
was
fully ccupied, heonly utlet or farmer'soungerhildren ouldbe to subdivide he ots that
wouldmean
reductionn
the tandard
of
living
or to
annex and
already ccupied
by
other
farmers.
But for
he
prospects
penedup
first
y
the
metallurgicalndustry,
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5/15
8/11/2019 V. Gordon Childe - Article on Bronze Age
6/15
6
PAST
AND PRESENT
banks. Moreover he
rivers
hat
water
he
crops,
re
at the
same
time
moving
roads on
which
bulky
goods,
like
food-stuffs,
an
economicallye transportedo thattheproduceoffarms cattered
over
wide
rea
can
readily
e
gathered
t
a
single
entre;
or
owhere
could one
littleneolithic
illage by
itself mass sufficient
urplus
foodto
support
he
man
power
needed
to run a whole
metallurgical
industry. Only
by pooling
the resources
of
many
communities
could
the
requisite
eserves e
accumulated.
Furthermore,
o
udge
by
the
practice
of
subsistance
armers
o-day,
neolithic
peasants
would have been disinclined o
produce
regularly
more
than was
needed
to
support
hemselves
nd
their
dependents;
o obtain
a
surplus egularlyome nducementrpressure ouldbe needed.
In
fact,
he
beginning
f
the
Bronze
Age
n
Egypt
nd
Mesoptomia
coincided
with
social revolution
the
"Urban
Revolution",
call
it
-
the
establishment
ftotalitarian
egimes3
nderwhich
surplus
was
systematically
xtracted rom
he
peasant
masses
and
gathered
into centralized
oyal
r
temple
granaries.
On the
Nile the
regular
use of
metaldid not
begin
illthe
eaders f the
Falcon
Horus)
clan
from
Upper
Egypt
had
by
force
f
arms t
length4
ubjugated
ll
the
other
lans,
whose
ndependent
illages
had been
strung
ut
along
the river rom he FirstCataract o theDelta,andhadwelded hem
into the unified
haraonic
monarchy. By
right
f
ccnquest
he clan
chief
had
become
king,
he
pharaoh,
ord and master
f the whole
Nile
valley
and entitled o receiveas rent or tribute he
surplus
produce
of its
industrious
ultivators.
By
his
victory
he
chief
of
the
Falcon clan
had
become rulerover
all
defeated
lans and over
his
fellow-clansmen
oo. He is
no
longer,
ikethe
atter,
Follower
of
Horus;
he is
Horus
--
the Horus
Aha. He
has
been raised
bove
society,
he
has become a
god.
Aha and his
successors
are
depicted
in superhumanize,twice s largeas defeated oemennd as their
retainers lso.
'They
are buried
with
singular
ites;
oyal
tombs,
beginning
with
Aha's,
were
distinguishedy
a monumental
uper-
structure,
ermed
nmastaba,
o
parallel
to
which marked r had
markedcommoners'
raves. They
were crammedwith fantastic
wealth,
ars
of
grain,
oil,
wines and
other
provisions,
rms,
ools,
vessels and ornaments f
copper
and
precious
metals,
furniture,
stonevases nd other
masterpieces
hatmust
have
been
manufactured
by
full-time
specialist
craftsmen.
Finally
each
mastaba
was
surrounded by the simple graves
-
up to
220
--
of retainers,
including
miths
nd other
rtizans,
lain
to
continue
erving
heir
divinemaster fter is decease.
Thus the
king
id
n fact
oncentrate
the wealth
produced
by
the
Egyptian easantry,
nd
part
of t
was
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7/15
THE
BRONZE
AGE
7
actually
xpended
n
the
support
f
specialized
raftsmennd on
the
importation
f raw
materials. At
the
same time
Egyptian
ociety
was split nto twoopposing lasses; thekingand a smallbodyof
dependent
obles,
on whomthe
pharaoh
had
personally
onferred
some
of
his
spiritual
nd
economic
privileges,
ere
contrasted
o
a
lower
lass
comprising
ot
only
he
peasant
masses,
ut
lso
themetal-
workers
nd
other
pecialist
raftsmen.
The latterwere
not ndeed
tied o thecourt r
the
nobles' states
y
any
ffective
egal
anctions,
but,
short
of
emigrating
cross waterless eserts o
alien,
hostile
peoples,
had
no
alternative
atrons,
o other ource fa
living.
In
Mesopotamia
he
Bronze
Age
did
not
begin
under
uite
such
a
totalitarianegime. The regionwas not united politically till
2350
B.C.
under
Sargon
of
Agade.
The later
Babylonia,5
Lower
Mesopotamia,
as
previously
ivided
nto
score
or
so
of
politically
independent ity-states.
But
in
each of these
a
god
concentrated
as
tithes,
irst-fruits
r
rent,
he
surplus roduced y
the
cultivators,
'the
god's people',
nd
some
of this
gain
was
really xpended
n the
support
of
smiths
and other full-time
pecialists
and
on the
importation
f
metals nd other
aw-materials,
ot
ocally
btainable.
On
paper
Sumerian
emple-city
ooks
more ike
huge
o-operative
household han classsociety.6 In practice lass cleavagehad split
the
household.
The
god's
self-appointed
ministers,
he
higher
clergy,
held
enormously
arger
hares
n
the
god's
land
than
the
ordinary
ultivators. The
exploitation
f
the
poor by
the
rich,
of
the weak
by
the
strong
s
explicitly
entionedn
Urukagina's eform
Decree,
about
2400
B.c.
Finally
in
each
city
we
read
of
a
"city-king"
(styled
shakku
r
ensi);
he was firstminister f the
god
on
earth,
his
representative
n
certain ituals
nd
leader of the
god's
people
in war. He controlled he
sole
city granary at
least at
Lagash)
and from imeto time became ord and master f the peoplesof
conquered
ities,
nd at the
same
time f
course,
f
his
fellow
itizens
too,
though
he
remained
heoretically
fellow-servantf the
god.
Since Sumerian
historians
elieved
hat
"kingship
escended
from
heaven" before
he
Flood,
they
believed hat he
king
f
one
city
r
another
ad
always
uledover
n
united
Babylonia,
s did
Sargon
f
Agade,
nd
the
ater
kings
fUr
and then f
Babylon.
Such
mperial
rulerswouldhave been
very
nearly
n
a
level
with he
pharaohs,
ut
in fact uch
empires,
f
any
existed efore
argon's,
were
ephemeral
and partial. In anycase city-kings,ongbefore argonofAgade,
were buried n
royal
tombs,
s
distinctives the
Egyptian hough
less
sumptuous,
nd
accompanied y
a
slaughter
f human
victims,
signifying
nce more
heir
levation
bove
society.
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8/15
8
PAST AND
PRESENT
It
may
be
granted
hat
uch totalitarian
conomieswere
essential
to
get
a
metallurgical
ndustry
tarted. A
relatively
uge
surplus
mustbe accumulatednd made accessible o inducemento adopt
the
hazardous
professions
f
prospector,
iner, melter,
istributer
and smith. Such
a
surplus
was
n fact irst
ccumulatedn
pharaoh's
courts
and Sumerian
temples
under a
totalitarian
conomy.
Presumably
t could
have been
accumulated
n no
other
way.
In
any
case
the
pharaonicmonarchy
nd
the
empire
f
Agade
set the
model
to
which
all
subsequent
oriental States and
Empires
-
Assyrian,
ersian,
Hellenistic,
ttoman
adhered n outline.
Yet
therelations f
production
hat husmade
possible
he establishment
of a metallurgicalndustry,etteredts furtherevelopment.So the
types
of
tools and
weapons
and the technical
methods
for their
production,
established
by
3oco
B.C.,
persisted
n
Egypt
and Hither
Asia with
hardly ny progressivehange
for he next wo millennia.
The reasonsfor such
stagnation
re
not
far
to seek. The
urban
revolutionn
the Orient iberated
raftsmennd
specialists
rom
he
necessity
f
procuring
heir
wn
food,
ut
only
t
the ostof
complete
dependence
n
a
court r a
temple.
It
gave
them eisure
o
perfect
their killsbut
no
encouragement
o
do so
along progressive
ines;
forthe lastthing o interest divinekingor high priestwouldbe
labour-saving
evices.
It
guaranteed
raftsmen
egular
upplies
of
raw
materials,
ut
only
to
convert hese into what divine
kings,
nobles and cloistered
riests
demanded. It evoked
exponents
f
applied
science,
but
only
to
relegate
hem o the lowerclasses
and
condemn them to
illiteracy.
So
it
isolated the
exponents
of
theoretical
cience
from he
practical
ciences
uccessfully
pplied
by
prospectors,
melters,
miths and other
illiterates.
For the
revolution ad evoked n order f
clerks,
who
developed
predictive
arithmetic,eometrynd calendrical stronomy,ut had attached
them o the
ruling
lass;
somewell-known
gyptian
exts
eveal
how
the
clerks
espised
metalworkers nd other
rtizans nd
claimed
o
be 'relieved of
all
manual
tasks'. The learned
sciences,
thus
limited,
were
hereby
terilized.
European
bronze ndustries
eveloped
ater han
he
Oriental
in
the
Aegean
probably
not much after
000
B.C.
(the
exact date
is still
a
matterof
guesswork),
north
of
the
Alps
not before
1700
-
and
in a
quite
different
ocial
etting.
Before
8oo
B.C. he
Aegean
oasts
nd
islands wereoccupiedby minute ownships,morenumerous han
the
city-states
f classical
imesbut
apparently
ust
as
autonomous,
though
all
exhibiting
o
archaologists
qually
similar
patterns
f
behaviour nd
certainly
s
closely
inked
by
commercial
ntercourse.
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9/15
THE BRONZE AGE
9
None were
demonstrably
lass societies.
Troy
and Lerna indeed
wereruled
by
chiefs;
ut
though
hese ived
n
modest
alaces,
hey
werenot buried n royal ombs nd so would not have been raised
above
society,
ike an
Egyptian
haraoh
or
a
Sumerian
ity-king.
In other towns domestic
nd
funerary
rchitecturelike
suggest
differencesn
wealth,
utno divisionnto lasses. Mosttownsfolkere
certainly
armers nd
fishers,
ut
resident
mithsworked
robably
in
mostcoastal
ownships,
oldsmiths
lso
in
the Troad and
Crete,
seal-engravers
oo
in the
latter
sland. These
craftsmen ere
kept
regularlyupplied
withraw materials.
Copper
ores were
available
on Naxos
and
elsewhere ithin
he
Aegean
basin s well
s
in
Cyprus,
theCopper sland. Ore, mported robably romNaxos, s known
to
have
been smelted
t the
port
of Rafina
on the
north oast
of
Atticawith harcoal rom
Hymettus
r Pentelicus.
But
tin,'
which
was
relatively
ommon,
must
have
been
imported perhaps
from
western
urope.
The
extractive
nd
manufacturing
ndustries
ay
have
been
started
by
immigrant
pecialists
from
Egypt
or Hither
Asia
who
must,
however,
have trained
native
apprentices.
Of
bronze-smiths'
products
ome
for
nstance
weezers)
eproduce gyptian atterns,
thatfunnily noughare quite differentrom he Sumerian,while
others,
ike
axes,
can be matched n Hit-hcr
sia
but not
n
Egypt.
Thus
Aegean
metallurgy
rom ts birthwas
fe:tilized
y
the
blending
of
two
divergent
raditions.
But
Early
Aegean
smiths
did
not
content
themselves
with
repeating
tandardizedOriental
types.
They
varied heir
products
o
suit
ocal tastes nd to
increase
heir
efficiency.
arly
Aegean
metal
ware
-
and indeed other
craft
products
--
exhibit
far
more
progressive hange
than
the con-
temporary
riental
roducts.
The moreprogressiveharacterfAegean ndustryndcraftsmen-
ship
s
legitimatelyxplicable y
referenceo the ocial
nd
economic
structures
ithin
which
they
functioned.
raftsmen
ad not been
reduced,
s
in the
Orient,
o
an
exploited
ower lass
becauseno class
division
had
as
yet
cleft
Aegean
societies.
Their
patrons
were
themselves
ractical
men
who would
appreciate
he
efficie;cy
f
tools
and
weapons.
And the craftsmen ere
effectively
ree to
choose
their
patrons
nstead
of
being
virtually
ied
to
a
court,
temple
or
a noble's estate.
Communication
etween
the several
little ownshipsmusthave beenrelativelyasy ndwasdemonstrably
frequent;
o
craftsmenould travel
bout,
as
they
did
in
Homeric
and
classicaltimes.
(Note
how
many
craftsmen
nd merchants
n
Athens n thefifth
entury
ere
metics,
.e. resident
liens.)
Similarly
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10/15
8/11/2019 V. Gordon Childe - Article on Bronze Age
11/15
THE BRONZE AGE
II
to obtain as tribute
r loot
the raw materials
hey
needed.
The
pharaohs
ent
expeditions,
upported
y
the
royal army,
o
mine
copper n Sinai and had themselves epicted mitinghewretched
Beduin.
In
the same
spirit
argon
of
Agade
boastsof
conquests
n
the
Cedar
Forest
and
the
Silver
Mountain.
If such
aggression
succeeded,
the
natives
would be
reduced
to
a
subject
class.
Successful
esistance
as
likely
o lead
to
a
totalitarian
egime,
nd
the
victorious
hampion
f
national
ndependence
as
liable
to
ape
Aha or
Sargon.
When
information ecomes available
towards
2000
B.c.,
the little
states
of
Hither
Asia are
totalitarianmonarchies
whoserulers re
either assalsor rivals
f the
potent ings
f
Egypt
or Babylonia utin either ase raised bovesociety. That is what
the
Europeans
scaped.
Just
ecause
they
ould
drawon the
surpluses
ccumulatedn the
Orient
and benefit
rom
he
metallurgicalndustry
stablished
n
reliance
hereon,
without
hemselves
aving
o accumulate he
vast
surplus equired
o start
uch an
industry, egean
ocietieswere
ble
to
enter
pon
the
Bronze
Age
without
ubmitting
o
a
class division.
The new
population
f
full-time
pecialists,
equired
o
maintain
a
Bronze
Age,
in the
Aegean
could
and
did
separate
ut
from he
peasantmasses in a barbarian ribalsociety. Though theywere
often liens
n a
society
hatwas
presumably
ased
on
kinship;
nd
probably
andless
n a
community
here
ccess to
land
was
the
first
consequence
of
membership
f
the
tribe,
yet
by
their skills
and
achievement
hey
ould earn subsistance
nd a
status,
f
not
tribal,
at
least
ntertribal.
Even f the break-downf
tribal
ociety
educed
the
peasantry
o
serfdom
r
something
ike
it,
they
could
escape;
a
craftsman ould
become
a
Tychios,"
a
Pheidias,
welcomed
n
every ity,
honored
nternationally.
f
course,
not
many
did;
the
realization f thesepossibilities ependedon exceptionalmerrit
and
good
luck. Yet
the
originality
nd
inventiveness
isplayed
n
Early
Aegean
metalwork,
s contrasted
ith he
ontemporary
riental,
may fairly
e
attributed o
this
privileged osition
of
the metal-
workers.
The inventionsn
technique
nd
art
ustly
ttributedo the
Greeks f theclassical
ge
two
thousand
ears
ater re
surely
ot
the
outcome
f
an innate Greek
genius",
but of a
tradition
nherited
by
the
class
societies f the
Iron
Age
from he
barbarian
ociety
f
the
Early
Bronze
Age.
North f theAlpstooa BronzeAgebegan, thousand ears ater,
among
poor
and
independent
arbarian
ocieties ecause
they
ould
draw
upon
resources ccumulated n class societies
elsewhere
immediately
n
Minoan
Crete
and
Mycenaean
Greece.
Soon after
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12/15
12
PAST AND
PRESENT
1900
B.C.
"priest-kings"
at
Knossos, Mallia,
Phaistos and
Hagia
Triada in
Crete,
and in Mainland
Greece war-lords t
Mycenae,
Thebes, Pylosand othercities,before1450 B.C.,had raisedthemselves
so
far
bove
their ocieties s
to build
themselves
alaces
nd
royal
tombs.None
achieved
he
otalitarianminence f n
Egyptian
haraoh
or
Mesopotamian
ity-king
-
there
were four
palaces
in central
Crete
nd,
though
hetholos ombs t
Mycenae
re the
finest,
imilar
cemeteries,
epresenting
ndependent
ynasties,
re more
numerous
than
the
independent
ity-states
f
Classical
Greece
-
yet
all
managed
o accumulate
uite
arge
urpluses.
It is
needlesshereto
enquire
how this was done
save
to
note
that
a
quite
substantial
part of Minoan-Mycenaeanwealth had been drawn through
commerce,
mercenary
ervice
r
piracy
rom
he
great
ccumulations
ofthe Oriental tates.
The wealth
hus oncentratedonstitutedn
effectivend accessible
market or the
products
f barbarian
urope,
north
of
the
Alps.
The warlike
Mycenaeans
n
particular
emanded
opper
nd
tin for
their armament ndustries
and
--
lucldly
for us
-
amber
for
magic
rituals or
simply
for
parade.
For amber
is
easily
identifiable
archmologically
nd
of
known
provenance.
Plottedon
a
map
the
distribution
f amber findsfrom
dated
graves
and hoards
reveals
quite
clearly
heroute
whereby
he fossil esinwas
transported
rom
the
Baltic
o the
Mediterranean
up
the
Elbe,
then
up
the
Saale
or
the
Vltava,
cross hemountain
anges
o
the
Danube,
then
p
the
nn,
across he
ow
Brenner
ass and down he
Adige.
The
route hus
dis-
closed
s
nat
rally
ermed he Amber
Route,
but other
aw materials
not
o
easily
dentified,
nd even
manufactured
rticles,
ere
ertainly
carried
long
t
too.
It
actually
rossed
he
tin-bearing
egions
f
Saxony
nd
Bohemia
nd
passed
closeto
the
prehistoric
opper
mines
of
the
Eastern
Alps.
Branchroutes oo can be
certainly
etected
with the aid ofmetalware- one down to Danube to theregion
of
Buda-Pest,
cross he
Hungarian lain
the
Alf6ld)
o
the mouth
of the Maros near
Szeged
and
so
to
the
Transylvanian
old-fields,
the otherfrom
he
Saale across western
Germany
nd Holland
to
the
Channel
nd at
last
to the
Cornish
in
treams.
Now,
ust
long
theAmber
Route
nd
ts two
branches,
hevarious
uarrelsome
ribes
of
Upper
taly,
Central
urope
and
the
British
sles
entered
pon
a
Bronze
Age
from bout
the moment
when he
first
mported
mber
beads
appear
n the
royal
haftGravesof
Mycenae,
irca
1650
B.C.;
that s,theywereregularlyuppliedwithmetal" ndbeganregularly
to use
arms,
mplements
nd
ornaments
f
bronze,
ocally
made
to
suit
divergent
ashions f
fighting,
orking
nd
dressing.
Tribes
iv-
ing
beyond
hereach f
these
outes-e.g.
n the
whole f
France
and
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13/15
8/11/2019 V. Gordon Childe - Article on Bronze Age
14/15
14
PAST AND
PRESENT
of metal tools for
carpentry,eaping,
nd
eventually
ree-felling,
substantially
ugmented
he
food
produced y
the
ndustry's
lients
in Temperate Europe. Secondlythe area of the Bronze Age
province
erved
by
the metaltrade
was
enlarged,
artly
s
a
result
of
an actual
colonization
y
farmers
rmedwith
the reliable
metal
weapons; by
1200
B.C.
the distributive
ystem
originally
based on the
Amber
Route
had
extended
ts
arteries
o
cover
hewhole
of
France,
Denmark nd South
Sweden,
most
of
Poland,
Transylvania
nd
the
whole
Apennine eninsula. Finally
he
efficiency
f
the extractive
and
distributive
achinery
tself
was
mproved
o that
ronze
ecame
much more abundant nd
presumably
heaper
and was used for
quite argevessels, hields nd other tems f defensivermour nd
in
rough
work. Now
in
the centuries
etween
650
and
I250
B.C.
archaeologists
ave observed n
extraordinary
rogress
n
efficiency
of the barbarians'
metal
quipment:
he
flat xe had
developed
nto
the
socketted
xe
that s
just
as efficientnd half
s
expensive
s a
shafthole
xe;
the
triangularagger
nto
cut-and-thrust
word;
the
Asiatic
oggle-pin
nto
a
safety-pin.
This cumulative
eries f
progressive
nnovations others
an
be
inferred,
ut are not so
directly
ttested
is a
real
foretaste
f the
much asterccumulationf nventionsn thefour enturieseginning
1600A.D. It is not
perhaps
ltogether
ancifulo see in theformer's
nameless
uthors he lineal ancestors
f
the
natural cientists ho
since
Galileo,
Newton and
Pascal
have
been
pooling
their
results
in an international
ociety till 1945).
Links
betweenthe two
groups
an
be
found n the
travelling
cholars nd
migrant uildsmen
of medieval
urope
and in
less
familar
igures
n
the Dark
Ages
and
Iron
Ages.
The
political
background
f our itinerantmerchant-
artificers
ould be called
a
concert f
powers,
ar more
numerous,
far esspotent nd far essharmonioushan n ModernHistory ut
still
nvoluntarily
nmeshedn
a
single
conomic
ystem.
As
for
heir
social
tatus,
hey
urely
njoyed
o
high
ank n tribal
ocieties
as
no
smiths'
graves
re known
n Bronze
Age
Europe,
theymay
not
evenhavebeen
members f uch ocal
groupings
but
they
werenot
relegated
o
a lower
class and
may
have drawnmoral
upport
rom
some sort of
supertribal
raft
ssociation.
If this
position
f the
craftsmen
the
applied
scientists
among
barbarian
ocieties,
cannot be
exactly
matched
mong
the class societiesof medieval
and modern urope, t contrastsavourably ith heir tatus n the
Oriental monarchies. Yet their
craft-lore,
heir
applied
science
was drawn rom
he
Orient nd at first
hey
had
obeyed
ts
precepts
to
the
extent f
reproducing
tandardized
siatic
types
that their
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15/15
THE BRONZE AGE
15
Asiastic
olleagues
had
been
replicating
or
thousand
years.
But
they
did not
continue
o
repeat;
hey
dared
bold innovationsoth
n
forms nd techniques,nitiatingmongthe barbarians orth f the
Alps
an
original
maginative
radition
hat,
lending
with he
Aegean
one,
surely
urvived
he Roman
Empire
nd theBarbarian
nvasions,
which
ctually
e-enforced
t,
to
emerge gain
n the Middle
Ages.
To
sum
up
the thesis:
the
divergence
f
European
from ll New
World
history
an be
explained
by
the
proximity
f
Egypt
and
Mesopotamia
where alone the
economicand social
preconditions
forthe initial
foundation f a
metallurgical
ndustry
xisted. The
priority
f the Orient n
this
respect,
however,
ffers n
equally
historicalxplanationor hedivergencefEuropeanfromOriental
history;
t
exemptedEuropeans
from
paying
the
heavy price
of
starting
uch an
industry
rom
cratch,
t least until a
peculiarly
European
traditionn
applied
science
had
been
established
mong
societies that remainedbarbarian
firmly
nough
to survive
the
subsequent
reakdown f tribal
rganization.
V.
Gordon hilde
NOTES
I
This
article s based
upon
lectures
deliveredbefore he
Australian
National
University n June 1957. Most of the argument s set forth n greaterdetail
in
my
forthcoming
ook,
The
Prehistory
f European
Society
Penguin
Books
Ltd.).
As the
evidence
is there set out
in
full with
bibliographical
references,
documentation s omitted
here.
2
Actually
nland
seas,
the
consequently
more
temperate
limate,
nd
domestic-
able animals
gave Europe
some
advantage
over North
America.
:
The
similarity
f the
Bronze
Age
States of
the
Ancient
East to
contemporary
totalitarian
States was
pointed
out
by
Heichelheim,
Wirtschaftsgeschichte
es
Altertumns
n
I938.
4
The
"unification
f
Egypt"
certainly
roceeded
by
stages,
and it
is
doubtful
whether
t
was
completed
by
Nar-mer or his
successor,
Aha.
The latter was
the
first o be
buried
in a
distinctively
oyal
tomb with human
sacrifices,
ut
inferences ocumentedby thepalette of Nar-mer have been used in the text.5
Babylonia,
till
its
unification bout
1790
B.c.,
by
the
First
Dynasty
of
Babylon,
would be
an anachronism
s a name
for
the
part
of
Iraq
south-east
of
Baghdad;
Sumer,
originally
meant
only
the
lower
part
of the
area,
but
the
ruling
class
throughout
t wrote
Sumerian and
are
usually
termedSumerians.
6
In
Man and
Materialism,
red
Hoyle
has
taken the texts t their
face
value,
as I
once
did
myself.
7
Geologically
the occurence of
tin
in
the
Aegean
area is
extremely nlikely;
voyaging
to
Cornwall,
Galicia or
Tuscany
in
the third millennium s a
hypo-
thesis
beloved
of
many prehistorians,
ut
supported
by
no
conclusive evidence.
1
Bronze-smith ummoned
from
Boeotia to Lokris
to
make a
shield
for
Ajax
in
the
Iliad.
B
There is some
ambiguous
evidence
that Central
European
metal
deposits
were being exploited a couple of centuries earlier by prospectorsfromthe
North
Syrian
coasts.
10
Localized
bronze
industries
in
Brittany
and
south-east
Spain
may
be
connected with
a
"long
sea"
route
from
Cornwall
to
the East
Mediterranean.