First developed in 1836 by Danish archaeologist Christian Jürgensen Thomsen as a part of his "Three-age system", the term "Bronze Age" is used by archaeologists to refer to those societies which have developed bronze technology but not yet learned how to work the more complicated process involved in making iron objects. The European Bronze Age lasted from , when the Aegean civilizations of Greece first developed bronze technology, right through to , when the Nordic Bronze Age came to an end with the development of iron among Scandinavian communities.
The period known by archaeologists as Bronze Age Britain lasted from  through to , and was defined by the adoption of copper and bronze technologies on the island. Bronze Age Ireland followed a similar, yet distinct course.
The Early Bronze Age in the British Isles was marked by the adoption of what archaeologists call the "Beaker culture", which had arrived from continental Europe. Eogan noted that the "evidence from archaeology is that Beaker-using communities were the earliest metallurgists in Britain and Ireland", with their produce including "copper artefacts such as tanged daggers but also gold objects as well as the use of gold for embellishment."