Of the various materials and industries that were current during the Bronze Age, metals occupy a special place: not so much because they were especially important to the population of the period as a whole; more because of the association of the name with the assumed production of metal objects on a wide scale. During the 1500 years over which the Bronze Age lasted, metallurgical technology developed from the use of unalloyed copper and gold for simple objects that were hammered to shape or made in open moulds, to the creation of a large and varied repertory using a variety of metals. From the middle of the second millennium, very large numbers of objects were made, principally in tin-bronze but also in other alloys of copper, and in gold. Thanks to recent experimental and analytical work, most of the processes involved, and the places where they were conducted, are well understood. But many questions remain concerning the way in which metals were regarded and utilised in other than functional terms, how the objects into which they were made operated in the society and economy of the period, and what status was accorded those who carried out the work of procuring the materials and producing the objects.

A number of general accounts of metallurgical processes are available, though none is written purely from a Bronze Age point of view, or with the situation in Europe principally in mind. The works of R. F. Tylecote are commonly cited, but other valuable general accounts are those by Coghlan, Mohen, Ottaway and Craddock.