An overview of Mesopotamian bronze metallurgy during the 3rd millennium BC

Literature results of chemical bronze analyses originating from Near Eastern excavation sites have been assembled to obtain a general overview of the Mesopotamian bronze technology during the 3rd millennium BC. Results show that at the end of the 4th and at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC arsenic alloys with an arsenic concentration up to 5% were generally into use, while tin bronzes were introduced during the middle of the 3rd millennium. This introduction appears almost synchronously over the entire region of Mesopotamia, although there is an indication that the tin bronze introduction was slightly later in southern Mesopotamia.