Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. c12.167

c12.167

The question of the early use of bronze is interesting. In many instances it seems likely that the introduction of the tin alloy was accidental and that it was used only so long as the rather rare metal could be obtained easily to add to the copper; often the two ores are found together and thus an accidental bronze could easily be produced. In Sumer the first bronze appears in Early Dynastic III times in the Royal Tombs of Ur; its occurrence in Giyan IVb may be rather earlier, and contemporary with Jemdet Nasr. At Sialk copper is used throughout the earlier prehistoric periods as it was in the first phases at Anau, but in Anau III a copper-arsenic like the Indian is known. At Hissar, copper was known from Hissar I onwards, and although objects from Hissar III have traces of tin (and one contained nearly 3 per cent) true bronze was not in use on the site.