One of the answers to What are the factors that caused the new world civilizations to be less technologically advanced than the old world? made an interesting statement:
in terms of metalworking, the lack of easily exploited tin deposits in
the Americas means that a bronze age never took off. There was a
copper-working culture surrounding the Great Lakes, and it pre-dated
the chalcolithic in the old world by a few thousand years, but this
lasted only as long as the accessible copper ore did.
Which New World civilizations had knowledge of combining tin and copper to make bronze? How much tin would have been readily available to pre-columbian civilizations? Did the Copper Age really start in the New World before it started in the Old World?

Respuesta :

The statement you provided is accurate in highlighting the importance of tin in the development of bronze and its scarcity in the Americas. In the Old World, the combination of copper and tin led to the Bronze Age, characterized by the production of bronze tools, weapons, and other artifacts.

However, in the New World, the lack of easily accessible tin deposits has been a significant factor in the absence of a Bronze Age. Instead, some pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas relied on copper for metalworking. The Great Lakes region, particularly the Old Copper Complex, is one example of a copper-working culture in North America.

These prehistoric Native American societies, such as the Old Copper Complex in the Great Lakes region, engaged in copper metallurgy. They exploited native copper deposits and produced various tools and ornaments using this metal. The Old Copper Complex dates back several thousand years, and it represents an indigenous development of metalworking technology.

While copper was used extensively, the absence of tin meant that these civilizations did not progress to the Bronze Age. The knowledge of combining tin and copper to make bronze was not present in the Americas during pre-Columbian times, and therefore, the Bronze Age did not occur in the New World.

In summary, the lack of readily available tin in the Americas limited the development of bronze technology in pre-Columbian civilizations. The use of native copper was significant, but it did not lead to a Bronze Age comparable to that of the Old World. The Copper Age in the New World, represented by the Old Copper Complex, preceded the Chalcolithic period in the Old World, but it did not progress to the Bronze Age due to the absence of tin resources.