• Bronze – the new raw material
• A close inspection – from raw material to lance tip
• The elite
• Offerings to the gods
• A Bronze Age village
   

Bronze – the new raw material

Near the ore deposits the miners built numerous smelting furnaces, where the ore was worked into semifinished products in the form of cast cakes and ingots, which were then traded.
The second component of bronze, tin, had to be transported from afar. The closest tin mining area is in the Mediterranean region (map: mining areas) on Sardinia and the Iberian Peninsula, in Brittany on the North Atlantic coast, and in the Erz Mountains in what is today the Czech Republic. The tin was brought in by traders.
  

A close inspection – from raw material to lance tip

The production of bronze objects was very labour-intensive. First the mined ore had to be crushed with milling stones in order to separate the metal-containing components from the stone. This crushed ore was roasted to reduce its sulphur content.  The ore was then put into a furnace together with charcoal. To achieve the required melting temperature of over 1000 degrees Celsius, fresh air was forced into the furnaces through clay pipes with the help of bellows. The smelting process produced copper ingots (cast cakes) of high purity and waste slag.
The bronze was cast in stone moulds. The casters heated the bronze in a clay crucible until it became liquid. To cast a lance tip, moulds were used where both halves had a reverse shape and had to fit perfectly together. Once the metal cooled, the mould was opened, and the rough cast object was worked into the finished product. The artisans removed the cast seam and sprue and decorated the object as required. The finished product was then polished to a high sheen with sandstone.
  

The elite

During the Bronze Age in Central Europe a social elite emerged that symbolized power and wealth. The members of this elite controlled the mining and processing of bronze, and trade in the metal both near and far. At the top of the social pyramid were warrior chiefs, whose status symbol was the sword.
  

Offerings to the gods

The most common form of Bronze Age sacrifice cult in the Alpine region was the ritual sinking of votive offerings in rivers, lakes, ponds, and springs. Mostly swords, axes, and lance tips were offered. The latter were also left as offerings at mountain passes and on mountaintops.
At the end of the 2nd millennium BC a new form of ritual emerged: burnt offerings. Many sites for burnt offerings were situated on high ground and hilltops. They are characterized by thick layers of burnt animal bones, which village communities sacrificed in fire during ritual ceremonies. The animal remains are mixed with the shards of ceramic vessels intentionally smashed during these rites.
  

A Bronze Age village

At Eppan near Bolzano a village community built an extensive settlement in the Late Bronze Age. The site was probably chosen for its fertile soil and its proximity to an important waterway, the Etsch, which flows from the Alpine valleys into the Po Plain and from there into the Mediterranean Sea.
The village was situated on a hillside which was terraced with drystone walls. The rectangular dwellings were constructed of wood, and the walls were daubed with clay. The dwellings had a tamped clay floor and a rectangular hearth. In one of the dwellings a bronze lance tip was found. Numerous findings testify to the presence of artisans: Potters shaped their goods and decorated them with bone stamps, while bronze casters made metal objects. The finished products were traded. However, most of the village residents continued to rely on farming and animal rearing for their livelihood.