The Framework of the Period

The Bronze and Iron Ages of central and northern Europe occupy the last couple of millennia bce, from around 2500 bce down to the turn of the era (Figs. 3.26.1 and 3.26.2). In Scandinavia, however, where the Roman Empire did not hold sway, it is the practice to regard the Iron Age as continuing down as far as the Viking Period, although here we will be concerned only as far as the end of the 1st millennium bce.

The Bronze Age can crudely be defined as the period when alloyed copper became the usual material for tools and weapons, until iron replaced it, but in practice it is hard to define when those points were reached, and unalloyed copper was present for some centuries prior to the regular appearance of alloying. Broadly speaking, a start date of 2500 bce may serve as the beginning of the Bronze Age, and 800 bce as the end (Fig. 3.26.1). Within that timeframe, much changed. At the start, the Beakers were in regular use (see Chapter 3.25); the succeeding Early, Middle and Late Bronze Ages saw progressive developments in technology, but also in economy and society. It is usual to name the Early Bronze Age after a number of cultural groups present in central Europe, particularly that named after an important cemetery near Prague, Únětice; the Middle Bronze Age was characterised in large parts of the continent by burial under a barrow, and thus is called the Tumulus Bronze Age; while the later parts of the period saw a change from inhumation to cremation, the ashes of the dead being placed in urns and the urns in pits in the ground in a defined area, hence “Urnfields”.