Trading places How Cornish tin fed Mediterranean's bronze age

In about 1300BC, the major civilisations of the eastern Mediterranean made a cultural and technological leap forward when they began using bronze much more widely to make weapons, tools and jewellery.

- Esther Addley

While a form of the metal had been used in smaller quantities by the Mycenaeans and Egyptians among others, bronze was now abundant - but how? Most bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, but while the former was widely available in antiquity, tin is a rare element, with no major sources anywhere near the eastern Mediterranean.

This left one major question, referred to by archaeologists as the "tin problem." Just where were those bronze age societies getting their tin?

Now a British-led group of archaeologists believe they have solved the mystery. By scientifically analysing ore and artefacts from across Europe, they have established that tin from the abundant deposits in Cornwall and Devon was being widely traded in the Mediterranean more than 3,000 years ago - and may have played a key part in the advances of sophisticated kingdoms and states 2,500 miles away.