TL1 (The Bronze Age)

TL1 (The Bronze Age) (3,500 BCE+) is the tech of the first major civilizations such as Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Generally TL 0 (The Stone Age) proceeds this and TL2 (The Iron Age) comes after.
==General Developments==
Note: these are a combination of the material in the Basic Set and GURPS Low-Tech
*Signature Technologies: Bronze; Arithmetic; Writing
*Transportation: Bare horseback; the wheel (and chariots); shipbuilding; sails
*Weapons and Armor: Bronze weapons and armor
**War: Horse-drawn chariots; helmets and body armor; walled cities and siege warfare
*Power: Donkeys; oxen; ponies; ; draft animals;
*Biotechnology/Medicine: Surgery; animal husbandry; fermentation
*Other Technologies: Large-scale agriculture, often with irrigation and plowing; calendars.
*Social Organization: City-states and monoethnic empires; written law; armies; long-distance trade and diplomacy; gold and silver currency by weight; marketplaces.
==Core Technologies==
===Materials===
*High-Fired Ceramics: Glass
*Mortars and Mineral Adhesives: Plaster, Lime
*Metals: Copper, Bronze, and Brass
*Fiber: Silk
*Paper and Its Cousins: Pith “Papers”
*Organic Adhesives and Matrices
===Chemistry===
*Alum, Potash
===Fuel and Power===
*Charcoal, Dung, Peat
*Animal Power: Shoulder Yoke
===Tools and Basic Equipment===
*Cloth and Leather: Loom, Backstrap; Scissors
*Mining and Tunneling: Chisel; Crowbar, Large (TL1); Hammer (TL1); Pick; Shovel
*Stone knapping: Punch, Chest
*Smithing: Anvil, Hammer, Pliers, Shears, Tongs
== Worlds of TL1 ==
* The world of Orichalcum is primarily TL1/TL2 (with some Atlantean tech at TL4)
* Some of the Gotha Parallels are TL1, with marauders armed with bronze spears and helmets
===Magical Settings at this TL===
* Classic: Egypt: awash in magical items from amulets to the Book of the Dead (a series of spells and incarnations to be used in the journey to the afterlife). Spell based magic can exist but culturally it tends toward Ritual Magic.
* Classic: Greece: Magic is the domain of the gods and demigods. Spells are always divinely or spirits based rather then mana based. What magical items do exist are either created by the gods, such as Hades' Helm of Darkness , or are Enchanted by Deeds, such as Athena’s Shield after Perseus' encounter with Medusa
==Related Material==
*GURPS Aztecs
*GURPS Bio-Tech
*Tech Level
*TL1 Armor
*TL1 Equipment
*TL1 Weapons
== Additional Information ==
* Bronze Age Collapse: Before the Storm, The Wheel and the Rod, Fire and Sword, Systems Collapse
* The Sea Peoples & The Late Bronze Age Collapse // Ancient History Documentary (1200-1150 BC)
==References==
*GURPS Low-Tech
*GURPS Magic Items 3 pg 7
Category:Technology
Category:Concepts
ja:TL1