As regards bronze, some articles of copper are said by M. de Morgan to have been in the tomb supposed to have been that of Menes, 4400 B.C. A bronze rod was found in the Pyramid of Mêdûm 3700 B.C.[1] The copper mines of Sinai were worked in the time of Seneferu, 3733 B.C.
Sir Arthur Evans assigns the date of 2500 B.C. to some of the copper objects from Knossos. Schliemann found copper objects in the lowest stratum of the first pre- historic city, 3000–2500 B.C. according to Dorpfeld. From Mesopotamia there is a small bronze figure bearing the name of King Gudea, 2500 B.C.,[2] and blocks of the metal were recorded by Thothmes III. as among the tribute received by him.
It is evident that none of these finds takes us back to the earliest use of copper, for they all indicate considerable knowledge and skill. We may then, I think, safely carry back the discovery of copper to about 5000 B.C.
It remains to consider how long a period we should allow for the knowledge of metal to spread from the Ægean to Great Britain.
The late Sir John Evans, in his work on the Bronze Age, estimated[3] the commencement of the Bronze Age in England at from 1400 to 1200 B.C. To quote other high authorities, Dr Sophus Müller suggests about 1200 B.C.; Abercromby, in his excellent work on Pottery, agrees with Sir J. Evans' chronology;[4] and Sir C. H. Read, 1800 B.C., "within a few centuries."[5] This, however, Evans regarded as a conservative estimate, and if he were writing now he would, I think, have carried it further back.
Though it may seem an extreme view to adopt, I am disposed to suggest that we must carry the knowledge of bronze in this country to an even more remote period. Montelius himself says[6] that "new finds will probably
