Chalcolithic & Bronze Age: Metals, Writing and the First Civilisations (3,300 to 800 BCE)
From the Mask of Agamemnon to the Uluburun shipwreck, from the Nebra sky disk to the cuneiform tablets of Sumer: this dossier traces the revolution of metals and writing that gave birth to the first great civilisations. In less than 2,500 years, humanity invented bronze, writing, the city, the state, law and international trade -- before a catastrophic systemic collapse around 1,200 BCE reduced this complex world to ashes. Ancient genomics, Mediterranean archaeology, cuneiform and archaeometallurgy: a comprehensive and fully sourced overview.
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