people of the bronze age

Next up is a short piece about Bronze Age Britain and, apparently, the people who lived there. Not entirely sure about the date, but the next piece in the book is from January 1980 and, since that’s about Horatio Nelson, this is the last of my childhood excursions into prehistory, and must have been written late in 1979. I don’t think there’s much here that’s too controversial. It’s basically just a brief list of things you can make with bronze, that for once doesn’t get too bogged down in pretending that women can’t make trumpets and men weren’t allowed to touch bronze mixing bowls in case they grew breasts and turned sissy. The description of bronze being brought by “men from the east” is a bit vague, but the earliest known examples of bronze were found on the Iranian Plateau, and that’s definitely East of Yorkshire. It’s entirely possible therefore that bronze was brought to Britain by Ancient Iranians. Then again, they could have been Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian or Greek. Just four examples of far more interesting Bronze Age Civilisations we could be learning about here instead of droning on about boring old Britain. Unless of course the “men from the east” were the Beaker People from the Iberian peninsula? Apparently Bell Beaker Culture was so successful here, it completely changed Britain forever and ever. But that would have been “men from the south” rather than men from the east. Or were they the filthy round-headed German invaders we’ve since come to refer to as “Celtic”? And let’s not forget that back then, everyone in Britain was black. FURTHER READING Prehistoric England Bronze Age Film Bronze Age Trade with Europe How to Build a Bronze Age House

December 1979/January 1980

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People of the Bronze Age

People in the Old Stone Age Guy Fawkes People in the Old Stone Age: 2 People in the Old Stone Age: 3 The New Stone Age People of the Bronze Age The Story of Nelson: 1 The Story of Nelson: 2 The Story of Nelson: 3 Florence Nightingale The Story of Nelson: 4 The Story of Nelson: 5 The Story of Nelson: 6 The Story of Nelson: 7 Christopher Columbus: 1 Christopher Columbus: 2 The Soldier Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon’s Mother The Queen of Spain The French Revolution The Surrender of Toulon Upon Return From Italy The Armed Revolt Josephine de Beauharnais The Thin Young Man The Little Corporal The Most Famous Man in France A Proposal About Egypt Master of France Weary of War Hero of the People Emperor at 34 Danger Across the Sea Wherever Wood Can Float An Empire in Decline