In about 1300bc, the main civilizations in the eastern Mediterranean made a cultural and technological leap forward The bronze began to be used more widely For weapons, tools and jewelry. While a form of metal was previously used in smaller quantities by the Missinis and the Egyptians from among others, the bronze is now abundant – but how?
Most bronze is a bond of copper and tin, but while the first was widely available in ancient times, Tin is a rare element, with no significant sources of thousands of kilometers. This left a big question, referred to as “tin problem”. Where were the bronze era societies in the Mediterranean Sea get tin for the bronze?
A group of British archaeologists believe that they have been my ambiguity. Through scientific analysis of raw and diodes from all over Europe, they have proven these tin from abundant deposits in Cornwall Devon has been widely circulated in the Mediterranean Sea more than 3000 years ago – and may have played a major role in the advancement of advanced kingdoms and countries more than 4000 km (2485 miles).
“This is the first commodity to be exported across the entire continent in British history,” said Dr. Benjamin Roberts, Assistant Professor of Archeology at Durham University. He said that the identification of the trade network “is radically transformed” our understanding of the place of the Bronze Age Britain in the wider world.
“The size, consistency and frequency of the estimated scale in the tin trade are much greater than what has been imagined and requires a completely new perspective about miners and traders in the Bronze Age.”
The study conducted, the first major project of its kind, a tracking component, leading bullets and analyzing the tin element on tin alloys that were recovered from the wreckage of the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean Sea, including three closed off the coast of Israel. Scientists have also analyzed raw samples and ancient tin articles from southwestern Britain and a handful of other European sources.
By comparing their results, the authors managed not only to circulate the Corniche tin on a large scale in the eastern Mediterranean, but also “a whole series of interconnected societies [were shipping] Roberts said that the tin through the rivers of France, through Sardinia, along the Mediterranean Islands off Cyprus, then to the coast of Israel. Ancient times.
The tin deposits in Cornwall and Devon are among the largest and easiest in the world, and will be extracted later on a large scale. But while the Greek writer Betha wrote about the circulation of tin in Cornwall during the Iron Age, many experts were skeptical that the former bronze era in the Bronze Age – small agricultural societies that had neither cities nor writing – could be part of a large -scale trading network with advanced media societies.
“We think it was the richest, the most easy to reach and the main source,” said Alan Williams, a proud colleague of archeology at Durham University.
Williams said he had “dreamed” of searching for the role of Corniche Tin in the Bronze Age since he was a geological student in one of the last tin mines in the province, 50 years ago. He will soon join Roberts in an archaeological pits in the Mount of St. Mikhail in Cornwall, who believe that it may have been a center of son -in -law in the Bronze Age and a major link in the tin circulation network.
