
3600-year-old Swedish Axes Were Made with Copper from Cyprus - diodorus
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/archaeology/1.719125
======
hownottowrite
And nearly all of the tin used in Bronze Age tools came from a single mining
area in what is now Afghanistan. Recommended: Eric Cline's "1177BC, The Year
Civilization Collapsed", great read on the state of the economy of the time
(and from the title, its rather spectacular collapse).

~~~
SilasX
So there was global trade in the 1100's BC?

~~~
hownottowrite
The Bronze Age was an amazing period in history. It's end has many parallels
to the current state of international relations.

------
alchemism
Ancient Irish mythology describes people settling the island who first set
sail from the shores of the Black Sea...so why not axes from Cyprus?

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Can you provide a reference - is it the "black sea" or the Black Sea, if the
latter what name was used for it in the oldest sources?

~~~
arethuza
Well, traditionally the Scots in their legends said that we came from Scythia
which is in that part of the world:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythia)

From the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath:

" _They journeyed from Greater Scythia by way of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the
Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain among the
most savage tribes, but nowhere could they be subdued by any race, however
barbarous.

Thence they came, twelve hundred years after the people of Israel crossed the
Red Sea, to their home in the west where they still live today._"

[http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/the-text-of-the-
declaratio...](http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/the-text-of-the-declaration-
of-arbroath-1-465230)

NB One of the kingdoms that eventually became Scotland was the Irish/Scottish
Dál Riata:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A1l_Riata](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A1l_Riata)

------
santoshalper
I understand why Northern Europeans would have wanted copper, but why did
Mediterraneans want amber? Was it just a luxury good?

~~~
PhasmaFelis
Quite possibly. It's no stranger than using gold as a medium of exchange. Some
things are valued just for being decorative.

Historically amber has also been used in perfume and folk remedies. I have no
idea if the Mediterraneans were into that specificially.

~~~
rory096
>used in perfume

Are you confusing amber with ambergris?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambergris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambergris)

~~~
PhasmaFelis
Nope!
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber#Scent_of_amber_and_amber...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber#Scent_of_amber_and_amber_perfumery)

------
lkrubner
It's also been known for awhile that the metal products often went the other
way. As early as 1200 BC a proto-Celtic people had some major copper/iron
works set up along the Danube, and the trade went down the river and over
Anatolia to the mideast. Jewelry with Celtic symbols were found in Sumeria.

~~~
cmrdporcupine
Even further afield, there were extensive copper and gold mines, for export,
in very early Ireland, also proto-Celtic times.

Per Wikipedia re: mines in Cork and Kerry: "mining and metalworking took place
there between 2400 and 1800 BC. ... Mines in Cork and Kerry are believed to
have produced as much as 370 tonnes of copper during the Bronze Age. As only
about 0.2% of this can be accounted for in excavated bronze artefacts, it is
surmised that Ireland was a major exporter of copper during this period."

------
diminish
What if there's no supply chain, but rather the material are recycled from
whatever axes or tools which travel during wars or conflicts?

~~~
boxy310
Third paragraph in the article states that Nordic amber was heavily prized in
Mycenaean Greece. Distances and climate in Europe are actually quite
reasonable for overland journeys, especially considering that the ancient
empires of the Middle East interacted in a substantial way for several
millennia despite being much farther than a Greece-Sweden transit.

------
jayess
Free trade!

