Though social class and stratification has its roots in the Agricultural Revolution, the Bronze Age significantly deepened the divides between social classes. Social stratification is fundamentally based in access to resources and control of surplus- or, "those who have" and "those who have not." Beginning with the Agricultural Revolution, people with a surplus of goods (such as food items, textiles, obsidian and stone technology) had greater influence in society because they had what other people would undoubtedly want at some point in time. This creates leverage, and a sense of deference to those who have gave way to the division of social class. The deepening of social differentiation as experienced in the Bronze Age was directly the result of new, bronze technology.

The Bronze Age began around 3300 BC in the Near East (later in areas like China and South Asia) with the discovery of bronze metallurgy. Bronze weapons and tools replaced earlier stone and copper tools because it was less likely to break or warp with use, and could be repeatedly melted down and manipulated. Bronze was also used to make vessels that did not require high firing temperatures and would not break as easily as clay. Bronze metallurgy, as well as the mining of copper and tin, became highly valuable skills in Bronze Age societies.

Let's do a little thought experiment: imagine your class is actually a village. Everyone uses stone tools and pottery vessels in their daily lives- cooking in earthen pots, smashing up grain with a stone pestle, slicing vegetables with knapped stone, and even fighting one another with knapped arrowheads! Then, one of your classmates goes away for a week and returns home with the knowledge of metallurgy. They begin smelting tin and copper from the ground and creating new, sturdier tools, weapons and vessels. Don't you think your classmates would go pretty far to get their hands on some of these sturdier objects? Your classmate who knows how to make bronze would quickly become the most popular and powerful person in class!

This is exactly how social stratification developed in the Bronze Age- people with the latest and greatest in technology became the most powerful individuals in society. Differentiation of labor made this stratification all the more complex, as varying degrees of value were assigned to the tasks of farming and food production, pottery working, mining, smithing, and so on.