What is "bronze age"

Bronze \Bronze\, n. [F. bronze, fr. It. bronzo brown, fr. OHG. br?n, G. braun. See Brown, a.]

1. An alloy of copper and tin, to which small proportions of other metals, especially zinc, are sometimes added. It is hard and sonorous, and is used for statues, bells, cannon, etc., the proportions of the ingredients being varied to suit the particular purposes. The varieties containing the higher proportions of tin are brittle, as in bell metal and speculum metal.

2. A statue, bust, etc., cast in bronze.

   A print, a bronze, a flower, a root.
   --Prior.

3. A yellowish or reddish brown, the color of bronze; also, a pigment or powder for imitating bronze.

4. Boldness; impudence; ``brass.''

   Imbrowned with native bronze, lo! Henley stands.
   --Pope.

   Aluminium bronze. See under Aluminium.

   Bronze age, an age of the world which followed the stone age, and was characterized by the use of implements and ornaments of copper or bronze.

   Bronze powder, a metallic powder, used with size or in combination with painting, to give the appearance of bronze, gold, or other metal, to any surface.

   Phosphor bronze & Silicious bronze or Silicium bronze are made by adding phosphorus and silicon respectively to ordinary bronze, and are characterized by great tenacity.

The Bronze Age is a time period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, for classifying and studying ancient societies.

An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact that there were no tin bronzes in western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Copper age serving as a transition. Although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic from outside the region.

Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing. According to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia ( cuneiform) and Egypt ( hieroglyphs) developed the earliest viable writing systems.

Bronze Age is an archaeological era, the second part of the three-age system ( Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age) for classifying and studying prehistoric societies.

It may also refer to:

• Bronze Age, one of the Ages of Man in classical mythology
• Bronze Age of Comic Books, a period in the history of American comic books
• Age of Bronze (comics), a comic book published by Image Comics
• The Age of Bronze, a sculpture by Rodin