Warfare in Bronze Age Society

By: Kristian Kristiansen and Christian Horn

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Synopsis: Warfare in Bronze Age Society takes a fresh look at warfare and its role in reshaping Bronze Age society. The Bronze Age represents the global emergence of a militarized society with a martial culture, materialized in a package of new, efficient weapons that remained in use for millennia to come. Warfare became institutionalized and professionalized during the Bronze Age, and a new class of warriors made their appearance. Evidence for this development is reflected in the ostentatious display of weapons in burials and hoards and in iconography from rock art to palace frescoes. These new manifestations of martial culture constructed the warrior as a ‘Hero’ and warfare as ‘Heroic’. The case studies, written by an international team of scholars, discuss these and other new aspects of Bronze Age warfare. Moreover, the essays show that warriors also facilitated mobility and innovation as new weapons quickly spread from the Mediterranean to northern Europe.