page_title: Bronze Age
section_title: Aegean
hierarchical_section_title: Bronze Age / History / Europe / Aegean
caption_attribution_description: English: Shaft Grave V, Grave Circle A, Mycenae. Found in Tomb V in Mycenae by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876. Gold death-mask known as the "Mask of Agamemnon". This mask depicts the imposing face of a bearded noble man. It is made of a gold sheet with repoussé details. Two holes near the ears indicate that the mask was held in place of the deceased's face with twine. This mask is believed to be a fake due to the high level of detail, such as the beard and ears. No other mask of it's type has a similar amount of detail. Français&#160;: Masque funéraire, connu sous le nom de «&#160;masque d'Agamemnon&#160;». Or massif, trouvé dans la Tombe V du site de Mycènes par Heirich Schliemann en 1876. 中文: 阿迦门农面具，迈锡尼。 Deutsch: Maske des Agamemnon Ελληνικά: Μάσκα του Αγαμέμνωνος, Α' ταφικός περίβολος Μυκηνών.
context_page_description: The Bronze Age is a historical period that was characterized by the use of bronze, in some areas 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 producing bronze by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Bronze itself is harder and more durable than other metals available at the time, allowing Bronze Age civilizations to gain a technological advantage.
  While terrestrial iron is naturally abundant, its high melting point of 1,538 °C placed it out of reach of common use until the end of the second millennium BC. Tin's low melting point of 231.9 °C and copper's relatively moderate melting point of 1,085 °C placed them within the capabilities of the Neolithic pottery kilns, which date back to 6000 BC and were able to produce temperatures greater than 900 °C.
context_section_description: The Aegean Bronze Age began around 3200 BC, when civilizations first established a far-ranging trade network. This network imported tin and charcoal to Cyprus, where copper was mined and alloyed with the tin to produce bronze. Bronze objects were then exported far and wide and supported the trade. Isotopic analysis of tin in some Mediterranean bronze artifacts suggests that they may have originated from Great Britain.
  Knowledge of navigation was well developed at this time and reached a peak of skill not exceeded (except perhaps by Polynesian sailors) until 1730 when the invention of the chronometer enabled the precise determination of longitude.
  The Minoan civilization based in Knossos on the island of Crete appears to have coordinated and defended its Bronze Age trade. Illyrians are also believed to have roots in the early Bronze Age. Ancient empires valued luxury goods in contrast to staple foods, leading to famine.
caption: Gold 'Mask of Agamemnon' produced during the Mycenaean civilization, from Mycenae, Greece, 1550 BC
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-LX2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "1748", "Image YResolution": "1748", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2011:05:09 21:30:50", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Image ExifOffset": "440", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1066", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7364", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/8", "EXIF FNumber": "18/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:12:20 21:24:23", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:12:20 21:24:23", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF LightSource": "Tungsten (incandescent light)", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1748", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1748", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "940", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Custom", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "32", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}