The Bronze Age (2200 BC – 600 BC) represents the period during which people first started to make and use metal. The earliest metals were copper and tin, which were mixed to create bronze.
Bronze objects were highly valuable and were collected in ‘hoards’ of metalwork as part of what we now think were elaborate rituals performed to strengthen relationships and negotiate power between groups.
Three such hoards have been found near Caerau. During the extension of the old Ely Paper Mill during the 1960s, a hoard dating to 800 BC containing the remains of a bronze blade known as the ‘Ely Sword’ was discovered. Such discoveries indicate the ongoing importance of Caerau during the Bronze Age.
