The Early Bronze Age

The Early Bronze Age from 200 BC to 1400 BC, or 4,200 years ago has a lot in common with the Late Neolithic. The same kinds of site were built and used, like henges and stone circles. Flint tools were still used alongside the new bronze ones. Grooved Ware and Beaker pottery were still made. This page explores some of the many sites associated with the Early Bronze Age, some of the important facts about the period and ways in which we can learn about the Early Bronze Age with archaeology.

Early Bronze Age Sites

There are many sites from the Early Bronze Age which are open to visitors, such as Stonehenge, Wiltshire. To explore some of these sites, visit our Early Bronze Age Sites page.

Some Important Facts about the Early Bronze Age

Tools

The use of the first bronze tools was an important moment. Bronze has to be made by heating the copper until it is liquid and adding tin. The molten bronze can then be cast into a wider range of shapes than is possible by flaking flint or grinding stone. Bronze is also very hard and long lasting. Controlling where copper and tin were mined, or controlling who got bronze tools, could be an important way to gain wealth and power.

Burial Practices and Henges

We now find people buried in family cemeteries, often under small mounds we call round barrows. At first most people were buried lying on their sides with their knees drawn up to their chest. Later on, cremation became more popular and people’s ashes were placed in a pottery urn within the grave. Placing grave goods with the burials was common. These include bronze, flint and stone tools, but also jet, amber and bone jewellery.

Henges became bigger in the Early Bronze Age, around 140 metres across, and developed two entrances on opposite sides of the structure. Stone circles became smaller and were much more closely linked with burials, especially cremations.

A major area of power and wealth seems to have been the Wessex area, centred on Wiltshire. On the other hand this area has had more attention from archaeologists over the last 200 years. Burials in Wessex were often very rich, with a lot of grave goods. These include items made of gold. Other areas may have been just as important but have been less investigated, like the Yorkshire Wolds.

Artefacts from the Early Bronze Age

There were some new artefacts in this period. New kinds of pottery were added to existing types, such as Food Vessels and Collared Urns. A new kind of flint tool was the flint dagger, copying the shape of early bronze daggers. The main change was the use of bronze tools. These included axeheads, knives, daggers, spears, halberds*, razors and jewellery. Flint mining stopped at Grimes Graves 3,900 years ago. Grooved Ware pottery also stops being made at about the same time.

Food Vessels are pots with a flat base, a complex and highly decorated rim with a flat edge sloping inwards. They sometime have lugs* which make them look as though they could have been hung by string from a roof beam or over a fire.

Collared Urns have a flat, narrow base that expand upwards to a wide rim that has a thick, decorated collar. Use as cremation urns.

Finding out about the Early Bronze Age with Archaeology

Some of the archaeological subjects which study the Early Bronze Age and professional Archaeologists who work with the Early Bronze Age include:

• Archaeological Illustration
• Bioarchaeology
• Conservation of Objects/Museum Conservation
• Environmental Archaeology
• Experimental Archaeology
• Field Archaeology and Archaeological Practice
• Forensic Archaeology/Anthropology
• Geophysics
• Landscape Archaeology
• Marine Archaeology
• Osteoarchaeology
• Re-enactment
• Region/Country Based Archaeology
• Finds Liason Officer

If you are interested in learning more about studying Early Bronze Age Archaeology please visit the CBA’s Studying Archaeology page.

Glossary

Halberd

A long narrow spear point but fixed at right angles to the shaft forming an L-shaped weapon.

Lugs

Hollow tubes on the sides towards the top of a pot, used for threading cord through the hollow and hanging the pot.