Bronze buckler, bronze sword, bronze atgeir, bronze axe, cultivator and cauldron (and the karve!) are all great improvements that come with the bronze age. And while bronze armor has a speed penalty, it is actually a lot more protection than troll since you cant upgrade troll to the max lvl in the bronze age (I still use troll armor though since it is enough and I don't like the speed penalty)
Sure you can skip much of the bronze age. On the other hand, if you don't, you can skip much or the iron age instead.