Ancient Artifacts from the Bronze Age
Ancient Artifacts from the Bronze Age
There is a suit of armour in the Archaeological Museum of Nafplion that has ruined a great many films for me. It was pulled out of a chamber tomb at Dendra in the Argolid in 1960: fifteen sheets of beaten…
The paradox of a metalworking civilisation There is a paradox at the heart of Egyptian metallurgy, and it is worth stating plainly at the outset, because everything else in this article hangs from it. No ancient culture worked precious metal…
The Horned Warriors of Two Seas: The Nuragic Bronzetti and the Veksø Horned Helmet Connection Everyone knows the Vikings wore horned helmets. Everyone is wrong. No horned helmet has ever been found in a Viking grave; the image was invented…
9 parts copper 1 part tin Bronze has a secret, and the secret is tin. Copper is everywhere — it outcrops on five continents, and almost every early complex society had a usable source within reach. But bronze, the alloy…
Forging the Edge: The Long Evolution of the Ancient Axe The axe is the oldest tool we still recognise as our own. Long before the sword, before the spear was hafted with any sophistication, before the very idea of a…