20 MAN : PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



Some bronzes from the pyramid of Medum analyzed by Prof. 

 J. H. Gladstone 1 yielded the high percentage of 9-1 of tin, from 

 which we must infer, not only that bronze, but bronze of the finest 

 quality, was already known to the Egyptians of the 4th dynasty. 

 Yet M. J. de Morgan, who does not question this inference, 

 and thinks that copper was also known to the Egyptians about 

 5000 B.C., holds that nowhere in Africa was there either a distinct 

 Copper or a Bronze Age. In America the transition was from 

 stone to copper only, but the passage was in Africa everywhere 

 from stone to iron 2 . 



On the other hand it is shown by M. Maspero that all the 

 Metal, as indeed also the Stone Ages, were successively passed 

 through in Babylonia, where metal implements, first of copper, 

 then of bronze, lastly of iron, abounded in immense variety from 

 remote times 3 . Metal tools of fine temper were here certainly 

 needed for carving the extremely hard diorite statues found in 

 1 88 1 by M. de Sarzec at Sirgalla (Legash), which cannot be much 

 less than 6000 years old. 



In Europe the transition from copper to bronze is supposed to 

 have taken place everywhere much about the same time. But we 

 shall see that the date, about 2000 B.C., usually assigned to the 

 change, will have to be set back fully 1000 years, at least for some 

 localities. Indeed the narrow views hitherto current regarding the 

 chronology of the Metal Ages have already received a rude shock 

 from the fruitful researches especially of Mr A. J. Evans in the 

 Eastern Mediterranean. Warning notes are already heard in all 

 directions, and Chr. Blinkenberg amongst others remarks that, if 

 Mykensean culture had attained its bloom in the i5th and follow- 

 ing centuries, pre-Mykenaean graves and their contents must be 

 dated back to the very beginning of the second, and even to the 

 latter part of the third millennium B.C. 4 



1 Proc. Soc. Bib. Archicol. 1892, pp. 223-6. 



' Recherches sur les Origincs de VEgypte, &c., 1896. M. de Morgan here 

 overlooks the development of a copper industry above referred to in various 

 parts of Central Africa, apparently at a very early date. 

 The Daivn of Civilization, 3rd ed. 1898, passim. 



4 Prcemykeniske Oldsager ; Bidragtil studiet af Grakenlands celdeste Kiiltui\ 

 Copenhagen, 1896. 



