The museum exhibits around 30,000 archaeological objects, making it one of the largest collections in Europe.
These objects bear witness to human activities from the origins of prehistory (Palaeolithic) to the Carolingian era.
The museum holds more than two million objects in its reserves...
The Bronze Age
The Bronze Age marks an evolution rather than a break with the Neolithic.
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The Bronze Age
The Bronze Age marks an evolution rather than a break with the Neolithic.
The Bronze Age marks an evolution rather than a break with the Neolithic. There was a diversification and even an increased social hierarchy, largely due to the appearance and development of bronze metallurgy. Bronze was easy to hoard and recycle, and was a source of rivalry and conflict.
Bronze is an easily hoarded and recycled resource, but it is also a source of rivalry and conflict. Ores and metal objects were part of various supply and exchange networks that crossed the whole of Europe.
Craftsmen became specialised, and the man-at-arms and the warrior chief asserted their pre-eminence in a society that was still rural. The struggle for social and economic supremacy led to sumptuous production for the use of the powerful or the gods, but also to the multiplication of warehouses, symptoms of insecurity and instability.