From time to time we get the “Glorantha is not really Bronze Age because of XXXXX” discussion. A few thoughts:
Now I think it is easy to say Glorantha is a “Bronze Age” setting. First, because bronze IS the main metal in use (which pretty much is the key definition in calling something Bronze Age). And second, because that helps distinguish it from both pseudo-medieval settings like Forgotten Realms or Games of Thrones or the Witcher, AND it from pseudo-Roman or Dark Age settings like Skyrim, Vikings, etc. Consider it a marketing tool that helps distinguish it from other settings out there.
But is it a historical Bronze Age setting? Of course not. First off, Glorantha has its own cosmology, mythology, and history that is NOT the real world’s. It has rideable bison, dragons, dragonewts, trolls, elves, dwarves, sorcerers, Rune Lords, and more. Heck, it is flat. All of that is absent from our historical Bronze Age (and frankly a far bigger deviation than something like silver coins or parchment scrolls).
Now there are still plenty of Bronze Age social things you can draw on. The importance of temples as landholders and in social organization. The importance of tribe and kin as an organizing principle. Long distance trade routes. And so on. But don’t get too hung up on the details of the historical Bronze Age – Glorantha IS going to contradict our own history!
To be honest, “Bronze Age” – just like Neolithic, Iron Age, etc. – is a very loosey-goosey definition and is more about narrative classification (Late Helladic IIA is Bronze Age, but Archaic Greece is not, etc.) than about anything specific. Except that bronze is the main metal. That seems a constant.
And there’s arguably no such thing as “Iron Age societies” (just as there is arguably no such thing as “Bronze Age society” – both cover too much territory), and in any case, RQ2 never uses the term. It uses the term “ancient period and early Dark Ages world” (whatever that means – ancient period covers a LOT of ground!). Its references are Mesopotamia, ancient China, Hybrid, and Lankhmar (as opposed to medieval Europe).
But it does say, pointblank on page 5: “Glorantha is a Bronze Age world. This general statement is meant to illustrate the social development and cultural level of most of the people of the world.”
As an aside, the usual working definition for Bronze Age is pretty simple. It basically consists of three things – use of bronze, writing, and some urbanisation. That’s it. And all of that is present in the major human civilisations in Glorantha – Orlanthi, Pelorian, Malkioni, Kralori, Teshnite, Fonritian, etc.
Meanwhile Iron Age just consists of that point when smelted iron replaces bronze in common use. That’s not present in ANY human Gloranthan culture.