The Bronze Age - Sometime before 3000 B.C., humans learned to fashion tools out of copper and then add tin to create the alloy bronze, allowing mankind to emerge from the Stone Age and enter into the Bronze Age. The period is also characterized by the first forms of writing in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Depicted here is the Bronze Sickle Sword, one of the earliest bronze weapons. Originating in Sumer early in the 3rd millennium, it was called the "Sappara". From there it traveled to Canaan. And finally it ended up in Egypt and named the "Khopesh".