Bronze Age swords appear from around the 17th century BC, in the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

 region and the Aegean

Aegean Sea

The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...

, evolving out of the dagger

Dagger

A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...

. They are replaced by the Iron Age sword

Iron Age sword

Swords made of iron appear from the Early Iron Age , but do not become widespread before the 8th century BC....

 during the early part of the 1st millennium BC.

The Bronze Age

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

 swords

Swords

A sword is a cutting/thrusting weapon made of metal. Sword or swords may also refer to:* Swords, County Dublin, Ireland* Suit of swords, a suit in Latin-suited playing cards and Tarot decks* SWORDS, a ground-based military robot...

 typically range from 50 to 90 cm in length (the maximum length feasible for such material), but with some longer exceptions.

For most Bronze Age swords (except for those in China), copper was alloyed with around 10-12% tin, making the sword strong, but not brittle.