724·The Bronze Age highly developed civilization,called the Harappan people,had settled between about 7000 and 1500 B.C.(until the Aryans in- vaded the land).Excavations at Mehrgarh(today's Pakistan)have demonstrated that the Harappans must have been skilled bronze workers as early as 2300 B.c.,applying the lost wax casting tech- nique,annealing,and riveting.They produced human figurines, vessels,arrowheads,spearheads,knives,and axes.The sickles which were unearthed suggest that bronze articles were utilized to support agriculture.Copper ores for these activities probably came from plains near the south end of the Indus river(Mohenjo- daro)and from areas northwest of the Indus valley,which is to- day's Afghanistan,as evidenced by large heaps of copper slag. The copper ingots of this area had the form of a semicircle.As in the Near East case,the origin of tin is,however,not quite clear at present.Some scholars believe that it came from the Deccan Plateau in central and western India.Copper smelting was not confined to the Harappan urban area.Instead,many regional In- dian cultures likewise smelted copper and bronze even though not always with the same sophistication. A written document concerning bronze can be found in Greek mythology.Homer,in his Iliad (which is assumed to have been created between 800 and 700 B.c.),reports of Hephaestus,the Greek god of fire,who throws copper and tin along with silver and gold into his furnace,thus creating a superior shield for Achilles. Finally,the early inhabitants of the central highlands of Peru before and during the Inca period engaged in some bronze tech- nology which is believed to have started around A.D.1450 or pos- sibly even somewhat earlier.In contrast to the European and Asian customs,however,the maximal arsenic content of the goods (pins,chisels,axes)was only 1.5%and the tin concentra- tion was 3%or less.Many artifacts found in this area did not contain alloy constituents in amounts that would significantly al- ter the mechanical properties.It is therefore questionable that the alloying was done intentionally.In any event,potential tin sources would have been close by,i.e.,in northern Bolivia. In summary,elaborate bronze technologies existed in various areas of the ancient world,not only in the Middle East,as some- times assumed. Now that we know from the above presentation that bronze is harder than copper and that bronze has a lower melting point than copper,we certainly should be eager to know which mech- anisms govern these properties.We shall explain this in the chap- ters to come.highly developed civilization, called the Harappan people, had settled between about 7000 and 1500 B.C. (until the Aryans in￾vaded the land). Excavations at Mehrgarh (today’s Pakistan) have demonstrated that the Harappans must have been skilled bronze workers as early as 2300 B.C., applying the lost wax casting tech￾nique, annealing, and riveting. They produced human figurines, vessels, arrowheads, spearheads, knives, and axes. The sickles which were unearthed suggest that bronze articles were utilized to support agriculture. Copper ores for these activities probably came from plains near the south end of the Indus river (Mohenjo￾daro) and from areas northwest of the Indus valley, which is to￾day’s Afghanistan, as evidenced by large heaps of copper slag. The copper ingots of this area had the form of a semicircle. As in the Near East case, the origin of tin is, however, not quite clear at present. Some scholars believe that it came from the Deccan Plateau in central and western India. Copper smelting was not confined to the Harappan urban area. Instead, many regional In￾dian cultures likewise smelted copper and bronze even though not always with the same sophistication. A written document concerning bronze can be found in Greek mythology. Homer, in his Iliad (which is assumed to have been created between 800 and 700 B.C.), reports of Hephaestus, the Greek god of fire, who throws copper and tin along with silver and gold into his furnace, thus creating a superior shield for Achilles. Finally, the early inhabitants of the central highlands of Peru before and during the Inca period engaged in some bronze tech￾nology which is believed to have started around A.D. 1450 or pos￾sibly even somewhat earlier. In contrast to the European and Asian customs, however, the maximal arsenic content of the goods (pins, chisels, axes) was only 1.5% and the tin concentra￾tion was 3% or less. Many artifacts found in this area did not contain alloy constituents in amounts that would significantly al￾ter the mechanical properties. It is therefore questionable that the alloying was done intentionally. In any event, potential tin sources would have been close by, i.e., in northern Bolivia. In summary, elaborate bronze technologies existed in various areas of the ancient world, not only in the Middle East, as some￾times assumed. Now that we know from the above presentation that bronze is harder than copper and that bronze has a lower melting point than copper, we certainly should be eager to know which mech￾anisms govern these properties. We shall explain this in the chap￾ters to come. 72 4 • The Bronze Age