Materials
Bronze
Also Known As Tin Bronze
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Bronze is an alloy of copper with tin, typically around ten percent tin by weight, sometimes with small additions of other elements such as arsenic or phosphorus. Harder and more durable than either component metal alone, and easier to cast than iron at the technology levels available to Bronze Age societies, bronze gave its name to the Bronze Age, the era in which it was the dominant metal for tools, weapons and ornamentation across much of Eurasia and Africa.
Facts
Disputed
Origin YearThe earliest tin bronze artifacts are attested in the Near East, around Susa in present-day Iran, from roughly the late fourth millennium BCE. Primary UseStatuary, bells, ship propellers, bearings and marine fittings, valued for corrosion resistance in seawater and low friction, and, historically, tools and weapons before iron smelting became widespread. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Casting, Methods Bronze was one of the earliest metals widely worked through casting, including lost-wax casting.
Smelting, Methods Bronze is produced by smelting and alloying copper and tin ores.
In Field
Sources
1. A History of Technology
Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors, Oxford University Press, 1954
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