Direct Objects

Craftspeople first produced bronze in about 3800 B.C., in Sumeria.

These craftspeople melted copper in a kind of furnace.

They accidentally mixed arsenic and other minerals with the copper.

This combination produced a stronger metal.

Eventually, metalworkers combined copper and tin into bronze.

Sumerian metalworkers could form this new metal into almost any shape.

Craftspeople in Egypt and other nearby areas soon learned the secret of bronze production.

People made durable tools, weapons, and statues out of bronze.

Farmers tilled fields with bronze-tipped plows.

They could cultivate larger areas with these efficient plows.