What is the Earliest Example of Bronze Sculpture?
The prehistoric Bronze age occurred at different times around the world, depending on the availability of the two main ingredients, copper and tin. Because of this, some relatively advanced cultures – like China – with limited access to these minerals actually proceeded directly to the Iron Age before developing bronze. So the early use of bronze is not an automatic indicator of an advanced culture. So far as we know, the oldest known prehistoric bronze sculpture was produced by the Maikop culture in the Russian North Caucasus region around 3,500 BCE. However, these works would have been cast using arsenic bronze, a naturally occurring metal. By comparison, copper-and-tin bronze casting is more complex and needs more advanced technology. Such techniques appear to have emerged first in the Indus Valley Civilization of India during the period 3,000-1,000 BCE, where the local Harappan culture invented new methods in metallurgy production using copper, bronze, lead and tin. One of its grea
