Thursday, October 24, 2019

The end of the British Bronze Age

Over the ninth century BC, the presumed-Celtic people of the Thames brought their broken bronze implements to the river delta (*Londunum, I guess). Mostly these were weapons but also some jewelry. There the Londoners carefully arranged all the bronze. And then they quit doing that (h/t Saraceni).

I know of no population turnover in this region at this time. UPDATE 12/31/21: This coincides with a gene-flip along the Thames, although - this far southeast - this flip will have finished by the ninth century.

Population changes or no, this tells us bronze became (sharply) less valuable. For weapons, iron became a competitor locally; and I expect also that the Continent had lightened up on its demand for British tin. And since bronze was cheaper now the ladyfolk didn't see as much value in its jewelry, either.

Anyone still wanting some old-fashioned bronzework for, I dunno, a nice looking crock-pot could, now, go make a new one from new bronze. Those running the recycling centre simply quit their jobs. Probably as soon they noticed that they'd started getting jewelry now.

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