Top 10 Inventions of the Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a prehistoric period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, that was characterized by the use of bronze, which is made by combining 90% copper and 10% tin, proved to be stronger than its two ingredients and much more durable than stone tools. Civilizations of the Bronze Age have played a major role as far as human development and technological innovations are concerned. The people of the time came up with many useful tools and inventions which assisted them in their everyday life and shaped the world in which we live in today.
The oldest wheel that has been found by the archaeologist to the date is the one found from the Mesopotamia. The wheel was developed in the Bronze Age and was used for many purposes.
This innovation is the one that we mostly use in our daily lives.
Evidence suggests that soap was invented by the ancient Babylonians in around 2800 BC. Inscriptions we're found on a Sumerian clay tablet which contains a formula for making soap. It was made from fats combined with wood ash and water.
Good thing they invented soap, otherwise we'd all be dirty.
Soap is the best Soap is the best you are. The worst soap is the best you are the one
Scholars generally agree that the earliest form of writing appeared almost 5,500 years ago in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). Although many other nations in the Near East, China and Mesoamerica at the time came up with their own forms of writing, the cuneiform script, created in Mesopotamia in around 3200 BC was first.
I think this is the most important invention on this list. It gave us the ability to share knowledge. The only downside to it is that many people use writing to communicate falsehoods.
Ropes were used even before the bronze age, but they were far from solid and only used for minor tasks. The ancient Egyptians were probably the first civilization to develop special tools to make rope. Egyptian rope dates back to 4000 to 3500 BC and was generally made of water reed fibres. The use of such ropes pulled by thousands of workers allowed the Egyptians to move the heavy stones required to build their monuments. Starting from approximately 2800 BC, rope made of hemp fibres was in use in China. Rope and the craft of rope making spread throughout Asia, India, and Europe over the next several thousand years.
With the invention of the wheel came the invention of chariots which were used to transport materials and also served as a war machine. This invention definitely sped transportation tenfold.
Long before the Bronze Age, people did use ways to keep their valuables safe, but the first ever lock was made in around 2000 B.C. Archeologists found the oldest known lock in the Khorsabad palace ruins near Nineveh. The lock was estimated to be 4,000 years old. It was a forerunner to a pin tumbler type of lock, and a common Egyptian lock for the time.
The first umbrellas were designed to provide shade from the sun. Many think it was invented by the Chinese during the Bronze age, but evidence of their use can be seen in ancient art and artifacts of the same period in Egypt and Greece as well. One of them must of created the umbrella for sure and the others most likely decided to also make use of this great invention.
I wonder if people still use umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun? It's mainly stuff you see in the rain nowadays.
Ella ella ella ... Sorry I had to. On a more serious note I am pretty surprised it was that long ago.
During the Bronze Age, stone axes began giving way to axes with a head made of copper and bronze. These tools we're mainly used for farm work. The bronze axe head was cast in moulds, allowing the design to be copied and mass produced. One type of Bronze Age axe is the Socketed Axe, or Celt, a wedge-shaped axe head with no shaft hole. The handle is instead fixed into a socket at the end.
The sickle sword was designed and created by the Sumerian civilization of southern Mesopotamia. Many people believe that this sword was created by the Egyptians (you might know this sword better by its Egyptian name "Khopesh"), but there is evidence to suggest the Sumerians we're the ones to invent this sword as they are considered the first to create tools and weapons using bronze. Armies and warfare we're given a lot of importance back then and so they needed a reliable and also deadly weapon. The result was this curved blade that was excellent for getting around shields and puncturing body parts like kidneys.
While plows we're invented in the previous period, they we're made of wood, which you can understand wasn't exactly the best to through soil full of rocks or roots. The Bronze Plow had the ability to take tough impacts without getting damaged and made farm work much easier.
The Bronze Age also changed farming forever and one of the biggest inventions to do so is irrigation which is the process of using man-made canals and ditches to divert water from natural sources or floodplains to fields for crops or to reservoir lakes to use at a later time.
Chinese people of the Bronze Age are credited with inventing kites. They we're used for recreational purposes just like today. They used materials such as like silk fabric and high strength silk.
Most commonly found in Britain during the Bronze Age, a field system rotates the crops planted in a number of fields to replenish nutrients in the soil. Some crops provide nutrients necessary for the next crop in the rotation, while other systems designate a field to grow wild every so many years.