Which risk increased when cast bronze sickle blades replaced flint blades during the early Bronze Age harvests?

💡 Explanation

When bronze sickles were adopted, arsenic was commonly alloyed to improve bronze hardness, but inconsistent mixing during casting led to localized segregation with higher arsenic content in certain blades, increasing the risk of acute arsenic exposure during use. Therefore, arsenic exposure became a risk, rather than caloric reduction, salinization, or resource scarcity because bronze sickles were inherently more efficient and required existing copper supplies.

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