) to metal (metal objects dating back to the 7th millennium BC were found).

Items from catacomb burials in the south of the USSR.

The oldest bronze tools were found in Southern Iran, Turkey and Mesopotamia and date back to the 4th millennium BC. e. Later they spread to Egypt (from the end of the 4th millennium BC), India (late 3rd millennium BC), China (from the middle of the 2nd millennium BC) and in Europe (from the 2nd millennium BC). In America Bronze Age had independent history, here the metallurgical center was the territory of Bolivia (the so-called late Tiwanaku, 6-10 centuries AD). The question of the Bronze Age in Africa has not yet been resolved due to insufficient archaeological knowledge, but the emergence of a number of independent centers of bronze casting here no later than the 1st millennium BC is considered undoubted. e. Bronze casting in Africa flourished in the 11th-17th centuries. in the countries of the Guinea coast.

Tools of the developed Bronze Age of Europe.

The unevenness of historical development, which emerged in previous periods, manifests itself very sharply in the Bronze Age. In the advanced centers with a developed manufacturing economy in the Bronze Age, early class ones were formed and the most ancient ones were formed (in the countries of the Near East). The productive economy spread in a number of vast regions (for example, Eastern) and outside these centers, causing their rapid economic development, the emergence of large ethnic associations, and the beginning of the decomposition of the clan system. At the same time, in large areas remote from the advanced centers, the old, Neolithic way of life, archaic hunter-fishermen, was preserved, but metal tools and weapons also penetrated here, which to a certain extent influenced general development these areas. The establishment of strong exchange ties, especially between areas of metal deposits (for example, the Caucasus and of Eastern Europe). For Europe, the so-called The Amber Route, along which amber was exported from the Baltic states to the south, and weapons, jewelry, etc. penetrated to the north.

A golden cup and a painted vessel from a burial in Trialeti. Georgia.

In Asia, the Bronze Age was a time of further development of previously established cities (Egypt) and the formation of new ones (In India, Yin). Outside this zone, the most ancient class states are developing, in which metal, including bronze, products are distributed, and intensive decomposition of the primitive system occurs (in Iran, Afghanistan).

A similar picture during the Bronze Age can be observed in Europe. In Crete (, etc.) the Bronze Age (late 3rd-2nd millennium BC) is the time of an early class society. About this are the remains of cities, palaces, the emergence of local writing (21-13 centuries BC). In mainland Greece, a similar thing occurs somewhat later, but here too in the 16th-13th centuries. BC e. there is already an early class (royal palaces in Tiryns, Mycenae, Pylos, royal palaces in Mycenae, the so-called system B, which is considered the oldest Greek letter of the Achaeans). During the Bronze Age, the Aegean world was a kind of center of Europe, on whose territory there existed whole line cultures of farmers and pastoralists who have not yet gone beyond the framework of the primitive system in their development. At the same time, the accumulation of intra-community wealth and the process of property and social differentiation also occur among them. This is evidenced by the finds of treasures of community bronze casters and treasures of jewelry that belonged to the family nobility.

In the countries of the Danube basin, the Bronze Age apparently ended with a patriarchal clan system. Archaeological early Bronze Ages (late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BC) represent to a large extent a continuation of local Chalcolithic cultures, all of them mainly agricultural. At the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. on the territory of Central Europe the so-called, different high level casting bronze products, and in the 15-13th centuries. BC e. - . In the 2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. arises: several of its local variants occupy an even larger territory than the Unetice ones. This is characterized in most areas special kind cemeteries (see) containing corpses burned. In Central and Northern Europe at the end of the 3rd and in the 1st half of the 2nd millennium, similar ones were common in several local variants, characterized by stone drilled “battle” axes and corded ornamentation. From the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. there is a spread over a vast territory from modern Spain to Poland, Transcarpathia and Hungary. The population that left these cities moved from west to east among local tribes. In the Bronze Age of Italy, monuments of the late stage type should be noted. From the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. in Northern Italy they are spreading, perhaps under the influence of the so-called Swiss lake pile settlements. - settlements on stilts, built not over the lake, but on damp flooded areas of river valleys (Po). The Bronze Age in France in most places is characterized by settlements of farmers who left a huge number of mounds with complex burial structures, often of the megalithic type (see). In northern France, as well as along the coast of the North Sea, megalithic structures continued to be built -,. Particularly noteworthy is the sun temple at Stonehenge in England (its early buildings date back to the 19th century BC). The development is associated with the appearance in southern Spain from the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e. highly developed with large settlements surrounded by walls with towers (Los Millares, etc.).

Clay vessels and a bronze ax from the Fatyanovo culture.

Bronze Age on modern territory. As in Western Europe, the tribes that lived here developed within the framework of the primitive system. The highest level was reached by the settled agricultural tribes of the southwest of Central Asia, where at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. A local proto-urban ancient eastern type is emerging, revealing connections with Iran and Harappa (V). However, this era had even more with its rich ore base. The Caucasus was one of the largest metallurgical centers in Eurasia, supplying at the turn of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. e. copper products from the steppe regions of Eastern Europe. In the 3rd millennium BC. e. Transcaucasia was an area of ​​distribution of settled agricultural and pastoral communities - the so-called Kura-Araxes, in a number of respects associated with the ancient bronze culture of Asia. From the middle of the 3rd millennium to the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. In the North Caucasus, cultures of pastoral tribes flourished with rich burials of leaders (,). B - original with painted - Trialeti culture of the 18th-15th centuries. BC e. (cm. ). In the 2nd millennium BC. e. Transcaucasia was the center of a highly developed bronze age, very similar to that of the Hittites and Assyria. In the North Caucasus at that time it was widespread, developing in contact with, and in the Western Caucasus - dolmens. In the 2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. - early 1st millennium BC. e. on the basis of previous cultures of the Middle Bronze Age, new cultures with a high level are emerging in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan -, in Western Georgia -, in the Central Caucasus -, in the North-West - Kuban, in Dagestan and Chechnya -.

Figurine and time seals of Namazga V.

Clay vessels and bronze tools of the Timber-frame culture.

From 16-15 centuries. BC e. on the territory of modern Western Ukraine, Podolia, as well as Southern Belarus. In the northern regions it has a number of features characteristic of the so-called Poland. The Volga-Oka interfluve, the Vyatka Trans-Volga region and neighboring territories in the 2nd millennium BC. e. occupied by hunting and fishing tribes of the late Neolithic, among whom settled tribes that worked and produced high-quality spherical pottery, stone-drilled hammer axes and copper “hanging” axes. During the Bronze Age, in the region of the Volga-Oka interfluve and on the Kama, bronze spears, celts and daggers of the so-called Seima, or Turbino, type (see), which became widespread, were known. Seima type weapons were found in the 14th-13th centuries. BC e. in Moldova, as well as in the Urals, Issyk-Kul, and Yenisei.

In Chuvashia, Trans-Volga region, Bashkiria and the Don region there are burial mounds and sites of the 2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. In the steppes of Western Siberia, Kazakhstan, Altai and the middle Yenisei from the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. there was a broad ethnocultural community called. It belonged to agricultural and pastoral tribes.

Archaeological complexes close to these were widespread in the middle and 2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. in Central Asia. Of these, Khorezm is the most famous. The strong influence of the steppe tribes found expression in the penetration of the Andronovo tribes into and into the southern reaches of Central Asia. Perhaps the spread of the steppe people was partly caused by the decline of sedentary agriculture in the southwest. Central Asia (Namazga VI). Peculiar Bronze Age steppe tribes were discovered in southwestern Tajikistan (Bishkent). It is suggested that the spread of bronze cultures is associated with the settlement of Indo-Iranian tribes.

In the last 2nd millennium BC. e. in Southern Siberia, Altai and partly in Kazakhstan, types of bronze tools and weapons are distributed, which are especially characteristic of the Altai and Yenisei and the local (so-called tomb) Transbaikalia. They are also known in the cultures of Mongolia, Northern and Central China of the era (14-8 centuries BC).

The Bronze Age was singled out as special in history back in ancient times by the ancient Roman philosopher Lucretius Carus. The “Bronze Age” was introduced into archaeological science in the 1st half of the 19th century. Danish scientists K. Thomsen and E. Worso. Significant contributions to the study of the Bronze Age were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. a Swedish archaeologist who, using the so-called typological method he created, classified and dated the Neolithic and Bronze Ages of Europe, as well as a French scientist. At the same time, a comprehensive study of archaeological sites began. The so-called ones began to stand out. This direction has also been developed in Russian archaeological science. V. A. Gorodtsov and identified the most important Bronze Age of Eastern Europe. Soviet archaeologists identified a large number of Bronze Age cultures: in the Caucasus (, etc.), on the Volga (, I.V. Sinitsyn, O.A. Grakova, etc.), in the Urals (, K.V. Salnikov, etc. ), in Central Asia (, V. M. Masson, etc.), in Siberia (, M. P. Gryaznov, V. N. Chernetsov, S. V. Kiselev, G. P. Sosnovsky, etc.). Soviet archaeologists and foreign Marxist archaeologists are researching archaeological cultures The Bronze Age from a historical perspective. The economic and social development those

Bronze Age - an era identified on the basis of archaeological data human history, characterized by the leading role of bronze products, which was associated with the improvement of the processing of metals such as copper and tin obtained from ore deposits, and the subsequent production of bronze from them. The Bronze Age is the second, late phase of the Early Metal Age, which replaced copper age and previous iron age. In general, the chronological framework of the Bronze Age: 35/33 - 13/11 centuries. BC e., but they differ among different cultures.

General periodization The early, middle and late stages of the Bronze Age are distinguished. At the beginning of the Bronze Age, the zone of cultures with metal covered no more than 8-10 million km², and by its end their area increased to 40-43 million km². During the Bronze Age, the formation, development and change of a number of metallurgical provinces took place.

Early Bronze Age

The Maykop culture in the North Caucasus is the probable site of the invention of bronze.

The boundary that separated the Copper Age from the Bronze Age was the collapse of the Balkan-Carpathian metallurgical province (1st half of 4 thousand) and the formation of ca. 35/33 centuries Circumpontic metallurgical province.

The place and time of the discovery of methods for producing bronze is not known with certainty. It can be assumed that bronze was discovered in several places at the same time.

Middle Bronze Age

In the Middle Bronze Age (26/25 - 20/19 centuries BC) there was an expansion (mainly to the north) of the zone occupied by metal-bearing cultures. The Circumpontic metallurgical province largely retains its structure and continues to be the central system of producing metallurgical centers in Eurasia.

Late Bronze Age

The beginning of the Late Bronze Age is the collapse of the Circumpontic metallurgical province at the turn of the 3rd and 2nd millennia and the formation of a whole chain of new metallurgical provinces, which to varying degrees reflected the most important features of mining and metallurgical production practiced in the central centers of the Circumpontic metallurgical province.

Among the metallurgical provinces of the Late Bronze Age, the largest was the Eurasian steppe metallurgical province (up to 8 million sq. km.), which inherited the traditions of the Circumpontic metallurgical province.

In the 13th/12th centuries. BC e. a Bronze Age catastrophe occurs: cultures disintegrate or change in almost the entire space from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, over the course of several centuries - until the 10th/8th centuries. BC e. Grand migrations of peoples are taking place. The transition to the Early Iron Age begins. Bronze Age relapses persisted longest in Celtic territory (Atlantic Europe).

The Circumpontic metallurgical province (abbr. CMP) is an archaeological community of the Bronze Age that replaced the Balkan-Carpathian metallurgical province and existed in Europe and part of Asia in the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. e.
Content
General provisions

In the history of the CMP, it is customary to distinguish two main phases:
- 1st, which dates mainly from the 3rd millennium BC. n. e., without going within its limits last third;
- 2nd, from the last third of the III - first third of the II millennium BC. e.
The emergence of the CMP is the result of significant cultural changes, including the disappearance without a trace of the vibrant Eneolithic cultures with painted ceramics, the destruction of the Balkan-Carpathian metallurgical province system, and what especially attracts the attention of researchers is the powerful migration of the ancient Indo-European tribes, whose migration covered a vast area around the Black Sea.
Since 1965, when Marija Gimbutas performed with Kurgan hypothesis, for the first time attention was drawn to the fact that the first appearance Indo-European languages in western and northern Europe, there was a second wave of spread Kurgan culture- approximately 3600 BC. e., which began in the Maykop culture and subsequently gave rise to kurganized mixed cultures in northern Europe around 3000 BC. e.

First phase

The first phase of the CMP corresponds to the Early Bronze Age. The range includes Central Asia, Transcaucasia, the Northern Black Sea region, the Caucasus, and the Balkans.
Industrial centers of the CMP in the Early Bronze Age have the following markers: 1) socketed axes; 2) handle knives and daggers; 3) awls with a tetrahedral thickening-stop; 4) chisels with a similar stop; 5) flattened adze-chisels. These tools and weapons varied slightly within different centers in terms of quantity and form of execution.
The CMP has the first feature - complete similarity of the technology for casting axes into open-type double-leaf casting molds. Molds (made of clay or stone) have been found in many ancient settlements.
The CMP has a second feature - the widespread use of copper alloys with arsenic begins, which was essentially a giant step forward in technical progress, especially in the Caucasus, Anatolia, and the Aegean basin.

Main crops of the 1st phase
Yamnaya culture
Maykop culture
Kura-Araks culture
Troya-1 and Troya-2

]Second phase

In the second phase, the area of ​​the province expands and includes the Eastern Black Sea region, Mesopotamia, Iran, and the western territories of modern Russia.
Main crops:
Catacomb culture
Troy-2 and Troy-3
Aladzha Huyuk
North Caucasian culture
Fatyanovo culture
Trialeti culture

19. Early Bronze Age
The boundary that separated the Copper Age from the Bronze Age was the collapse of the Balkan-Carpathian metallurgical province (1st half of 4 thousand) and the formation of ca. 35/33 centuries Circumpontic metallurgical province. Within the Circumpontian metallurgical province, which dominated during the early and middle Bronze Ages, copper ore centers of the South Caucasus, Anatolia, the Balkan-Carpathian region, and the Aegean Islands were discovered and began to be exploited. To the west of it, the mining and metallurgical centers of the Southern Alps, the Iberian Peninsula, and the British Isles functioned; to the south and southeast, metalliferous cultures are known in Egypt, Arabia, Iran and Afghanistan, all the way to Pakistan.
The place and time of the discovery of methods for producing bronze is not known with certainty. It can be assumed that bronze was discovered in several places at the same time. The earliest bronze items with tin admixtures were discovered in Iraq and Iran and date back to the end of the 4th millennium BC. e. But there is evidence of an earlier appearance of bronze in Thailand in the 5th. millennium b.c. e. Bronze items containing arsenic were produced in Anatolia and on both sides of the Caucasus in the early 3rd century. millennium BC e. And some bronze products of the Maykop culture date back to the middle of the 4th millennium BC. e. Although this issue is controversial and other analysis results indicate that the same Maykop bronze products were made in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e.
With the beginning of the Bronze Age, two blocks of human communities in Eurasia took shape and began to actively interact. To the south of the central folded mountain belt (Sayano-Altai - Pamir and Tien Shan - Caucasus - Carpathians - Alps), societies with complex social structure, an economy based on agriculture in combination with livestock raising, cities, writing, and states appeared here. To the north, in the Eurasian steppe, warlike societies of mobile pastoralists formed.

The beginning of the metal era

The Bronze Age, which replaced the Chalcolithic at the turn of the fourth and third millennia BC, gave a powerful impetus further development human civilization. It became the first stage of the metal era, when stone means of production and tools began to be decisively replaced by metal ones. The Bronze Age began after the discovery of the properties of copper alloys in different parts of the planet. This historical era is associated with several major milestones development human society. First of all, the spread of productive economic activities, among which farming and cattle breeding begin to stand out. This process was especially pronounced in various territories of steppe Eurasia, which was due to new technical achievements of primitive society - the invention of the wheeled cart, as well as at a later stage the use of horses as a means of transport.

End primitive image life

The Bronze Age is characterized not only by man's introduction to copper alloys, but also by the first primitive metalworking technologies, which dramatically increased labor productivity. Thus, the formation of metallurgy accelerated the improvement of society and created necessary prerequisites for the formation of the first ancient cities and even states, which already in the fourth millennium BC arose in Mesopotamia and southwestern Iran, and a little later - in the Nile Delta. This was the end of the primitive way of life, which nevertheless continued to exist in most of the earth inhabited by people.

Uneven evolution of human society

The Bronze Age was marked by the spontaneous emergence of an ordered community of people - ancient states- in different regions and in different time periods. In many territories they did not exist until relatively recently. For example, before the arrival of European colonialists, government did not exist in Australia, in a large part of the African continent, and in many areas of America. The primitive organization of society with its relatively simple way of life was preserved for a long time where, for some reason, the influence of more developed civilizations did not penetrate, where specific climatic and natural conditions did not provide the opportunity to develop more complex forms social structure. The peoples of Oceania, America, partly Siberia and tropical Africa continued to live in the Bronze Age almost until the sixteenth century.

Features of cultural development of the Bronze Age

The systematic occupation of agricultural and pastoral activities, especially in favorable climatic and natural conditions with sufficient water resources and fertile soils, provided people with ample opportunities to produce food more than the required minimum, as a result of which certain surpluses accumulated, free time appeared that could be devoted to crafts . This is how the Bronze Age culture appeared. Stone and metal products, dishes, fabrics, various household items and household utensils began to be created, which today archaeologists find in large quantities. This was the beginning of the emergence of natural exchange, which gave additional impetus to the improvement of human society. Gradually, social life became more complicated, and the need arose to perform complex and labor-intensive public works for the future. For example, various irrigation structures began to be built in the valleys of large rivers as early as the fourth century BC. In other regions, deforestation was required. All this led to the unification of small clan communities into large social formations, from which the first states were then formed.

Art

Bronze Age art has a number of individual characteristic features. It is already more diverse than in previous eras, and is also becoming more geographically widespread. Petroglyphs (rock carvings) and paintings on stone slabs are becoming a ubiquitous phenomenon, and an artistic direction of geometrically complex patterns is being formed. Emergence sculptural works and small plastic art also becomes an important feature of the art of the Bronze Age. During this period, it is already possible to trace certain artistic subjects that are directly related to the mythological ideas of the most ancient peoples. The first traditions of ornamentation of ceramic products appeared. And art itself acquires the features of a unique visual language, a sign system addressed to related groups of fellow tribesmen.

The Bronze Age is the second, late phase of the Early Metal Age, which replaced the Copper Age and preceded the Iron Age. In general, the chronological framework of the Bronze Age: IV - I millennium BC, but they differ among different cultures. With the appearance in the 3rd millennium BC. large states A special form of socio-political structure begins to take shape - despotism, characteristic of most ancient Eastern countries throughout their history. The ruler of a state in a developed despotism had full power. The bureaucratic apparatus played a major role in governing the country, where there was a clear system of ranks and subordination. The entire working population of the despotic state, in addition to taxes, was assigned state duties - the so-called public works.

Reconstruction of the temple at Tepe Gawra near Mosul, Iraq. Ubaid period. IV millennium BC e.

The first states appeared in the valleys of the large rivers Nile, Tigris and Euphrates, where it was possible to create large irrigation systems for irrigated agriculture, thanks to which it was possible to depend much less on natural conditions than in other places and more consistently obtain good harvests. The construction of such complexes required the joint work of a large number of people, with clear organization and planning, which became one of the most important functions of the first states.

Irrigation agriculture of ancient Sumer

In the 3rd millennium BC. Large palace farms, in which the natural type of production dominates, become the main economic unit. Trade relations develop within regions isolated from each other (Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China) and exist mainly in the form of exchange. Technological development, different resource bases and increasing specialization of production stimulate the expansion of international exchange.

The scarcity and territorial remoteness of deposits of copper and tin, necessary for the production of bronze, contribute to the emergence of complex and extended trade routes. Which in turn further stimulates the specialization of production and the international division of labor. Some areas specialize in the extraction of raw materials, others in their processing, and others in the transportation of goods and trade. Agriculture is the basis of everything, but specialization occurs within agriculture as well. All this requires the creation and maintenance of a global trade infrastructure, order and security.

Ancient Sumer

Therefore, by the end of the 2nd millennium BC. Almost the entire territory from the Mediterranean Sea to the mountains of Iran is dominated by the economy of large palace farms, a continuous zone of class societies and states is created, within which close international and diplomatic relations begin to be established. The rulers of countries enter into diplomatic correspondence and try to influence domestic policy neighbors and conclude international treaties. Wars become not only a weapon of robbery and the capture of slaves, but an instrument of political and economic struggle. Now they are increasingly conducted for economic reasons: to seize or protect trade routes, control sources of raw materials, ensure favorable terms of trade, or increase economic power through the annexation of new territories.

The birth of Akkad under Sargon the Great. Artist HongNian Zhang

Throughout the 2nd millennium BC. The improvement of tools continues, progress is observed in crafts and partly in agriculture, the marketability of production is growing, usury and proto-financial banking are developing. State lands are beginning to be provided to private individuals under various conditions. The world is becoming increasingly connected and interdependent. Economic, political and cultural contacts are being strengthened, international trade routes are being established, and the number of trading settlements on the territory of other states is growing.

Battle of Kadesh

At the same time, the struggle for control of trade routes is intensifying, and the number of local wars is growing. Science and technology, writing, education, culture and art are developing.
The Bronze Age ends historical phenomenon, which is commonly called the Bronze Age catastrophe. In the period from 1206 to 1150. BC. All major economies collapsed. The region plunged into chaos, international trade died out, trade routes collapsed, and many achievements of science and technology were lost.

Mycenaean warrior from the Bronze Age disaster

The general standard of living of the population and its numbers dropped sharply. Entire regions depopulated. Over a large area, a period of “dark ages” began, in which development was thrown back to the late Eneolithic era.

Bronze Age cultural centers destroyed as a result of a systemic crisis

In order to understand how this could happen almost simultaneously in a huge region, let’s take a closer look political map at the moment before the collapse begins and give brief information on the leading states that determined international politics.

Literature

1. Polyak G.B. History of the world economy: Textbook for universities / Ed. G.B. Polyak, A.N. Markova. - M.: UNITY, 2002.-727 p.: ill. ISBN 5-238-00066-9. Links are given by section from the table of contents, because In the electronic version of the book, the page numbering does not match the printed version. (17)

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