Practice question · True or false
Bronze arms an aristocracy; iron can arm a village.
Hints
- One metal is rare and importable, the other common and local.
- Controllable supply is what allows an elite monopoly.
Show the answer
True
Why
Bronze is rare, imported, and controllable; iron is common, local, and not. When the thing that makes a weapon stops being scarce, the people who controlled the scarcity lose their grip, though the political consequences are debated, because technological determinism is a trap.
Practise The Bronze Age and Metallurgy
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