Old Kingdom (Copper) The Yamna is a late copper age/early bronze age culture of the Bug-Dniester-Ural region, dating to the 36th–23rd centuries BC. The culture was predominantly nomadic, with some agriculture practiced near rivers and a few hillforts. The Bell-Beaker culture ca. 2800 – 1900 BC, scattered archaeological culture of prehistoric western Europe starting in the late Neolithic (stone age) running into the early bronze age. Its remains have been found in what is now Portugal, Spain, France (excluding the central massif), Great Britain and Ireland, the Low Countries, and Germany between the Elbe and Rhine, with an extention along the upper Danube into the Vienna basin (Austria), with Mediterranean outposts on Sardinia and Sicily. The Alps are generally divided into Western Alps and Eastern Alps. The division is along the line between Lake Constance and Lake Como, following the Rhine. The Alps arose as a result of the pressure exerted on sediments of the Tethys Ocean basin as its Mesozoic and early Cenozoic strata were pushed against the stable Eurasian landmass by the northward-moving African landmass. The landscape seen today is mostly formed by glaciation during the past two million years. Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origins assumes gradual expansion of the Kurgan culture until it encompasses the entire pontic steppe, Kurgan IV being identified with the Yamna culture of around 3000 BC. Metalworking began in Ireland around 2500 BC, when bronze, an alloy of tin and copper, made its first appearance. Bronze was used for the manufacture of both weapons and tools. Swords, axes, daggers, hatchets, halberds, awls, drinking utensils and horn-shaped trumpets are just some of the items that have been unearthed at Bronze Age sites. Copper used in the manufacture of bronze was mined in Ireland, chiefly in the southwest of the country, while the tin was imported from Cornwall in Britain. The earliest known copper mine in these islands was located on Ross Island in County Kerry; mining and metalworking took place here between 2400 and 1800 BC. Another of Europe’s best-preserved copper mines has been discovered at Mount Gabriel in County Cork, which was worked for several centuries in the middle of the second millennium. During the Bronze Age, the climate of Ireland deteriorated and extensive deforestation took place. The population of Ireland at the end of the Bronze Age was probably in excess of 100,000, and may have been as high as 200,000. Unetice culture of the Bronze Age grew out of Beaker (European Pottery) roots and is dated after the Akkadian Empire; from 2300-1600 BC. is focused around the Czech Republic, southern and central Germany, and western Poland. The U´netice culture had trade links with the British Wessex culture. In adjacent areas of Northern Germany, the Netherlands and Poland, late Neolithic traditions (giant beakers) were still dominant, in Scandinavia, late corded ware was still produced and a gradual change from the west, with influences of the older part of the French Rhône-culture to the east, where the finds are very similar to the Austrian Unterwölbling-group. Large quantities of malachite have been mined in the Urals. It is found in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Tsumeb, Namibia; Ural mountains, Russia; Mexico; Broken Hill, New South Wales; England; Lyon; and in the Southwestern United States especially in Arizona at Bisbee and Morenci.

---