Metal Age

The essentials

The Metal Age followed the Stone Age in the Three Age system. People learned to extract metals from ores by smelting and to shape them into tools, weapons and ornaments. The first metal widely used was copper, followed by bronze and later iron.

Key points

• Chalcolithic ("copper-stone") cultures used copper along with stone tools. In India, the Ahar (Banas), Malwa and Jorwe cultures are examples.
• Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. It is harder than pure copper and can be cast in moulds. The Bronze Age saw the rise of cities, trade, writing and specialised crafts. The Harappan (Indus) civilisation is the Bronze Age civilisation of South Asia; the bronze "dancing girl" from Mohenjo-daro was made by the lost-wax method.
• Iron requires higher temperatures to smelt, but iron ore is far more common than copper and tin. Iron tools such as axes and ploughshares helped clear forests and expand farming. In India, iron use spread in the late second and first millennium BCE; Painted Grey Ware sites of the Ganga plain and megalithic burials of South India are associated with iron.
• Iron's spread made tools cheaper and more widely available, supporting larger settlements and states.
• Metallurgy also created new specialists (smiths), trade networks for ores, and social differences based on control of metal.

Exam tips

• Order of metals: copper → bronze → iron.
• Remember: bronze = copper + tin; brass = copper + zinc.

Common mistakes

• Thinking iron came before bronze; iron technology came later because it needs higher temperatures.
• Assuming stone tools disappeared at once; they continued alongside metal for a long time.