ÉPUISÉ - Bronze and the Bronze Age: Metalwork and Society in Britain c. 2500-800 BC, 2002, 191 p. -

What was so revolutionary and special about the 2000 years that formed the Bronze Age in Britain? The author begins by looking at the metal itself: where the constituent materials came from, how it was worked, the status of the bronze-smiths. He then goes on to look at the wide range of bronze objects that were made, from the ceremonial to the practical. An examination of how bronze enters the archaeological record leads on to an examination of other classes of excavated material such as pottery and human and animal remains. This wide-ranging study not only examines why bronze was adopted at the end of the Neolithic and explores its cultural and economic impact during the Bronze Age, but seeks to explain why it was eventually replaced by iron for some tools, weapons and ornaments.