IGNOU BDP FST-1 SCIENCE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD- BRONZE AGE

IGNOU BDP FST-1 SCIENCE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD- BRONZE AGE 

BRONZE AGE

After Stone Age, the next period in the evolution of human society is known as the Bronze Age. The new alloy replaced stone during this period. This period was in fact, the beginning of a new type of productive activity, namely agriculture. Cultivation, however, marked a break from the primitive era, as human beings stopped being dependent on nature and started to control their livelihood and destiny.

The transition from the primitive society to an agricultural based society was brought about by a change in the methods of production. Cities came into existence and the socio-economic needs of those times led to advances in science and techniques.
In the primitive society, the different methods of production used were food gathering and hunting. The methods of production used by the Bronze Age civilisation was agriculture, masonry, carpentry and other crafts. In the early phase of the growth of cities, the socio-economic needs that led to the advances in techniques were the needs for having better tools for agriculture, houses for shelter, pottery for storage, carts and boats for transport and trade, planned layout etc. These needs were fulfilled by the technical advances in pottery, metal working, masonry, carpentry, brick-working, boat-making, stonework etc.

Scientific and technical advancements of Bronze Age

Use of metals, particularly copper and its alloy bronze. Recording of numbers or quantities of goods, standardizing their measures, counting and calculating, making calender's etc. form the basis of quantitative science in the Bronze Age.

The socio-economic needs of growing cities and trade between cities gave rise to many broad areas of quantitative science, such as standardization of measures, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, medicine etc. The base for the future development of many other areas such as chemistry, algebra, anatomy and physiology, botany etc. was also laid in this era.

Decline of Bronze Age

The three factors that led to the decline of Bronze Age civilisation:-

1. The emergence of two distinct groups of the producers and the appropriators.
The growth of cities and the technical advances eventually led to the formation of two distinct groups--the producers and the appropriators. The producers like farmers, masons, wheelwrights, carpenters etc. were themselves involved in the production of goods; the appropriators did not produce goods themselves, they cornered other people's produce.
The unequal distribution of produce resulted in the rise of a dominant group of priest-kings, 'the thinkers' who isolated themselves from farmers and urban craftsmen, 'the doers'. In the attempt of the priest-kings to consolidate their power, the gulf between the two increased, leading to stagnation in society and in science.

2. Invasion by nomadic barbarians.

3. Increase in population, leading to a pressure on cities.