Did bronze metallurgical development peak by the end of the bronze age?

Upvote:-1

Let's start with your last question:

was bronze of a far higher quality in the modern era

Of course, and you answered it yourself

with fewer impurities, and higher strengths and tolerances

you can add to that: and much better temperature control.

Metallurgists may not agree with me, but the difference between ancient bronze and modern bronze is not that big, for all practical purposes.

The difference between iron and steel is big. A steel sword is stronger and certainly less brittle than an iron sword. A modern bronze sword can be somewhat sharper/stronger than an ancient bronze sword, but you need an expert to tell the difference.

Upvote:3

Not an expert, but the main improvements were in the forge and specially, the fundition process. Making big swords requires much more molten material than a small knife, so the ancient metallurgists worked specially in improving these. At the end the forges became large enough and, critically, hot enough to melt iron minerals, and thus bronze was abandoned for iron and steel.

Remember: iron replaced bronze not because it was better but because it was cheaper. Bronze swords were still used by the upper-class for several centuries well into the iron age - until steel was perfected enough. First iron swords were brittle, while good bronze ones (the ones properly aloyed with tin) were not. The biblical giant Goliath used a bronze armor and an iron sword, which states clearly which metal was thought to be better to protect your life, and which was cheap and easily replaceable*.

(*) To be more precise, making thin flat layers of iron to make an armor was a technique not yet mastered in the early iron age. Doing that with bronze isn't easier, but bronze works were a mature technology by then.

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