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10 A History of Sweden
B. THE BRONZE AGE
(About 2000 to 600 B.C.)
The Introduction of Bronze. About four thousand
years ago reports from the South reached the stone-
age people in the North, of a wonderful "stone," which
could be melted by heat and formed into strong tools,
sharp weapons, and beautiful ornaments that glowed
like fire in the sunlight. This was bronze, that is, cop-
per made harder and more fusible by being alloyed
with tin. Gradually by the process of barter one bronze
article after another found its way to the North. Little
by little the stone-age people learned the art of work-
ing the bronze, and thus it came into general use. The
Bronze Age had begun.
Nearly all of the many bronze articles found in Swed-
en were made there, and the best of them surpass in
tastefulness those of most of the other European lands.
Naturally the use of stone implements and weapons
did not end with the coming of the Bronze Age. The
metals composing the bronze had to be imported from
other lands, for tin has not been found in Scandinavia,
and copper was not mined in Sweden till hundreds of
years after the end of the Bronze Age. Bronze was,
therefore, expensive, and poor people had to continue
the use of stone, especially for heavier tools and for
arrowheads and other weapons subject to frequent
loss.
The Importation of Bronze. Bronze was imported
chiefly from the regions of the Danube and carried
northward on the great German rivers. Waterways
furnished the best means of transportation in the early
days, when scarcely any highways were found any-
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