Question about the silver shields .

[Conradus]

Did the Egyptians procure their Tin also from Cornwall? As I'm fairly sure they used bronze weapons, but I never heard of Egyptian tradevessels going as far as Britain. Or did they simply trade with Minoans, Phoenicians, whoever went there?

[Tellos Athenaios]

Well, to some extent you can compare the Silk trade with the Tin trade. Somewhere it's made, and it passes on from merchant to merchant till it reaches it's final destination. Also, it is not impossible that the Egyptians would have simply bought Bronze.

[Meothar]

I think there were smaller tin mines in other countries, too, like in Anatolia, where archaeologists found a mine or on the Iberian peninsula.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Oh I'm not saying they're the only places but at the end of the day Afganistan and Cornwall are only places with enough to support the Bronze-Age econamies. It's worth noting that the Naue II type sword is the type upon which all further swords in Europe and the Near East are based, it appears everywhere from Denmark, to Britain, to Egypt, to Greece.

Before 1,100 BC the ancient trade networks were extensive.

[russia almighty]

Regardless why at the start of EB , well into the Iron age is Bronze still being used heavily ?

[abou]

Because smithing techniques were not advanced enough to produce quality iron/steel. If you can produce bronze that is still excellent, but only mediocre steel there is no incentive to change. Same reasoning for why there are many clubs used in Germany during our time frame - they work just as well as many other weapons, but are cheap and easy to make as all you need is a tree, some tools, and fire to harden the wood.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Bronze also wears better, iron armour needs to be tinned or silvered to be weather proof, by constrast bronze tends to go a convenient green.

[Zarax]

Good ironsmiths were some of the most sought after artisans in the whole antiquity.
Just think about the iberians, they had access to some of the best iron around and developed such skillful techniques that romans tried to hire them en masse to re-equip their armies...

[QwertyMIDX]

Regardless why at the start of EB , well into the Iron age is Bronze still being used heavily ?

Because Bronze is actually a much better metal than wrought iron and quality iron with steel like qualities was pretty rare. The main reason iron caught on wasn't because it was better, but because in the late bronze age the trade links broke down and people couldn't get the need materials (mostly tin, copper was easier to get normally) to make bronze. Iron was known and produced through most of the bronze age, the process is actually easier in a lot of ways, iron not being an alloy. Further, Bronze was often more popular for armor in the east because it was a bit better at not overheating the user and surviving weathering and metal fatigue (in fact its better than steel in all those categories). Also, while quality steel is lighter than bronze, bronze is lighter than the more common simple or wrought iron from which armor was often made (steel-like iron being so rare, it tended to be reserved for weapons).

[geala]

The victory of the iron was only due to availability and (therefore) cheapness, as is said before. With the iron the mass battles and total wars of the ancient world became possible.

Iron weapons are said to hold a sharp edge a little longer than bronze ones. For armour the iron normally used has no advantages compared to bronze (or other copper alloys). Hardened steel like in the 15th c. AD is not found for armour, as far as I know, although a lot of ancient swords were made from "steel".

The Greeks seemed to have had some difficulties to produce big thin sheets of iron. Strangely the Mediterranean east had not the advanced techniques of iron working of f.e. the Celts. Some iron cuirasses are mentioned/found for the late 4th c. BC but were not common. Therefore I think the shields were not covered with iron (happy rusting also) but with silver or a very bright copper alloy mixture instead.