The Bronze Age is the period of antiquity in the Old World in which bronze became the primary material for tools and weapons. Bronze is a combination of copper and (usually) tin, metals which do not normally occur in proximity to each other, and the resulting rise in trade led to considerable differentiation of status, power, and wealth. In Europe the period conventionally spans the period from 2000 to about 700 BC, while in the Far East it is of similar or later date — Dr Paul Bahn