- period ~3300-1200 BCE defined by widespread use of bronze (copper + tin alloy)
- first writing systems: cuneiform in Sumer, hieroglyphics in Egypt
- first empires: Akkadian, Egyptian, Hittite, Shang, Minoan, Mycenaean
- long-distance trade networks for tin, copper, lapis lazuli, gold
- emergence of codified law (Hammurabi), organized religion, monumental architecture
- followed the Neolithic revolution, preceded the Iron Age
- the Bronze Age Collapse (~1200 BCE) destroyed most eastern Mediterranean civilizations simultaneously
- enabled by metallurgy, surplus agriculture, and writing (invention)