Modern historians identify the Bronze Age in the Near East with the Ancient Period of Western Civilization history (c.3100 to c.1000 BCE), a period that begins in Egypt around 3100 BCE and in Mesopotamia around 3000 BCE. With the rise of civilization and organized violence came experimentation with metal alloys in a search for harder, more lethal materials to make weapons. As early as 6000 BCE in Anatolia, Neolithic man experimented with copper tools and weapons. But it was not until the fourth millennium BCE that tin was added to copper to produce a superior alloy, beginning the Bronze Age. Here, metal smiths combined melted copper with eight to twelve percent tin to make “classic” or “mild” bronze, depending on the desired malleability, with swords, axes and spears requiring a harder alloy, and helmets and breastplates hammered into shape from a softer composite. Contemporary to the rise of civilization in Mesopotamia, the Bronze Age made warfare a much more dangerous activity than it had been before in the Neolithic Period. In Mesopotamia, where warfare among rival city- states was constant, new weapon and armor designs were introduced rapidly.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, metal technology has far less impact on weapons technology, and the rate of innovation was slow.  Bronze transforms the killing power of earlier weapons like axes and maces and allowed for the creation of short swords of various lengths and designs, including the distinctive Egyptian khopesh sword, which was imported from Mesopotamia. Bronze armor also appeared in the form of body and head protection, but the expense of bronze armor meant that both were usually only utilized by the aristocracy. Bronze manufacturing slowly spread throughout the Near East and across Europe west to the British Isles and north to Scandinavian, with some of the greatest Bronze Age arms and armor associated with the Aegean Mycenaean civilization.

Mycenaean armies shared several common features with other Near Eastern Late Bronze Age powers.  Archaeological evidence points to these early Greeks relying initially on heavy infantry armed with long two-handed spears, large shields and on some occasions, armor. Later in the thirteenth century BCE, Mycenaean warfare underwent major changes both in tactics and weaponry. Armed units became more uniform and flexible, while weapons became smaller and lighter. The spear remained the main weapon among Mycenaean warriors until the collapse of the Bronze Age, while the sword played a secondary role in combat. These bronze swords evolved throughout the Mycenaean period, with the famous Naue II type short sword becoming popular in the thirteenth century, although they are found throughout Bronze Age Europe. The most famous example of Bronze Age armor was excavated in a Mycenaean warrior’s grave at Dendra in 1939 and dates back to the late fifteenth century BCE.  Although it provided amazing protection for its wearer, this type of corslet was only used for a limited time, probably because of its excessive weight and encumbrance.  Also of special note is the boars’ tusk helmet found with the armor constructed from plates of horn sliced from tusks and bound to a leather base with rawhide thongs. This type of helmet had great articulation and, along with its bronze cheek-pieces, was a very advanced helmet design.

Top photo: Map of Diffusion of Copper and Bronze Metallurgy. Source: Wikipedia. In the Public Domain. Click to enlarge.

Bottom photo: (L) Swords of the Bronze Age: Naue II Type swords. Source: Wikipedia. In the Public Domain. Click to enlarge. (R) Mycenean era Dendra armor and boars’ tusk helmet from Chamber Tomb 12. Nafplio Museum, Greece. Source: Wikipedia. In the Public Domain. Click to enlarge.

Modern scholars refer to the collapse of civilization at the end of the Bronze Age as “The Catastrophe” (c.1200-c.1050 BCE). This era was a transitional period from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age that historians believe was violent, sudden, and culturally disruptive in the Aegean Region, Southwestern Asia, and the Eastern Mediterranean. There are several theories concerning what brought about this relatively sudden collapse of Bronze Age civilizations, including environmental factors (climate change, volcanic eruptions, drought, increased tectonic activity), increased invasion and migration (perhaps resulting from resource scarcity due to environmental factors), as well as the adoption of iron technologies by rival cultures (this theory has weakened over the last few decades, but may play a part in the later decades of this era). 

Another popular theory has to do with changes in warfare, specifically the appearance of massed infantry, using newly developed weapons and armor (cast rather than forged spearheads and long swords and javelins). These new weapons were employed by large numbers of "running skirmishers" who challenged the chariot aristocracy in late Bronze Age civilizations, swarming and cutting down chariot armies and destabilizing states, precipitating an abrupt social collapse as raiders began to conquer, pillage, and burn cities. It is quite possible that all these above factors conspired to bring about the end of Bronze Age civilizations and usher in a new era of Western Civilization history, the Classical Period (c.1000 BCE to c.500 CE) into existence based on a more readily available material, iron, that transformed the killing power of classical armies and led to the expansion of early Iron age empires like the Neo Assyrian and Achaemenid Persian empires.  

Suggested Readings:

Primary sources

Uckelmann, Marion, and Marianne Mödlinger, eds. Bronze Age Warfare: Manufacture and Use of Weaponry. Archaeopress, 2011.

Secondary sources

Drews, Robert. The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and Catastrophe, ca. 1200 B.C., Third edition.  Princeton University Press, 2020.

Howard, Dan. Bronze Age Military Equipment. Pen and Sword, 2023.