We may now venture to attempt to gain an absolute chronology of more or less definite dates for the appearance of the cultures which we have noticed. We must clearly recognize that our best results can be only tentative and provisional. A careful study and comparison of the pottery of northern Europe will some day furnish data for a reliable system. For the sake of convenience we will begin by attempting to set a date for the close, rather than the beginning, of the whole Neolithic period. We have seen that this was brought about by the introduction of the metal bronze. Copper had come into use somewhat or considerably earlier, but it seems hardly worth while to consider it as characterizing a distinct period. It is rather the last phase of the Stone Age, when wider communications and trade were making the transition to the use of metals like bronze and iron. According to Montelius,[122] who is our best authority on chronology, the use of bronze in sufficient quantities to mark the beginning of a new period took place in different countries at the dates given in the second column of the following table, the first column showing the date of the first use of copper:[123] +-------------------------------+-----------------+ | REGION | YEAR B. C. | +-------------------------------+--------+--------+ | | COPPER | BRONZE | | +--------+--------+ | Egypt and Chaldæa | 5000 | 3000 | | Troy, Greece, and Sicily | 3000 | 2500 | | Hungary and Spain | 3000 | 2000 | | Middle Europe and France | 2500 | 2000 | | North Germany and Scandinavia | 2500 | 1900 | +-------------------------------+--------+--------+ These dates mark the beginning of the more or less general use of metals, not the first appearance of a few imported articles. Some authorities would place the beginning of the Bronze period a few centuries earlier, and that of the introduction of copper some 500 years earlier.[124] Forrer dates the beginning of both epochs a little later than Montelius. The date 2000 B. C. would seem to mark the end of the Neolithic period in middle Europe with approximate accuracy.