How Cornwall led Europe into the Bronze Age

The first smiths worked with copper and gold. Only when tin came to be added routinely to copper to make bronze did metal replace stone for tools and weapons. The innovation transformed Europe and Asia, creating new classes of makers and traders, and new ways to accumulate wealth and express power. And now a surprising study reveals that most of the tin – archaeologists estimate hundreds of tons a year – came from south-west England.

Although tin made up only a tenth of bronze, it was much harder to find than copper. Key tin sources were in the far west or east – principally Devon and Cornwall, or Central Asia. This previously presented archaeologists with a long-standing puzzle: the first regular bronzeworking occurred in West Asia, where there is no tin.