A metal is an element, such as gold and iron, or a mixture of such elements, such as bronze and steel, that is typically hard, strong, and shiny, and through which electricity and heat can travel well.

Humans made tools from stone, wood, and bones for millions of years. Stones were struck against one another to create a cutting edge, a sharp top, or a percussion surface, and wood and bones could be cut to a desired shape.

The oldest copper artefacts found in the Middle East suggest that around 10,700 years ago, people began to work with metals as well. When encountering nuggets of copper, gold, silver, lead, and tin, they discovered that these stone-like substances did not fracture when struck. Instead, they changed shape and could be hammered into small objects like jewellery and daggers.

It took a few thousand years more before people learnt how to extract metals from their ores (rocks containing metal) by heating them over a fire, a process known as smelting. Smelted metal could be melted and poured into a mould to make various utensils, a process known as casting. Excluding copper, early exploited metals were typically too soft for bigger instruments. Heavier copper tools, however, needed regular reshaping and resharpening.

After learning to extract and cast metals, ancient metalworkers discovered that combining them with one another created stronger materials called alloys, which not only made tools more durable but could also be used for swords, spears, and shields.

The first alloy invented was bronze, roughly 5,500 years ago. It was made by mixing a small amount of tin into copper. Since both metals were relatively scarce and thus hard to obtain, bronze became mainly the luxury of the elites.

Around two thousand years later, people figured out how to make fires hot enough to smelt iron.¹ Iron was much more abundant in the soil, making high-level weapons and durable tools widely available in Europe, Africa, and Asia, changing the lives of everyone.

Metallurgy began at different times in different parts of the world, and for instance, Native Americans used bronze, but for one reason or another, they did not utilise iron.

¹ Iron was the last metal to be worked because it requires a very high temperature to smelt (c. 1535 °C).

Bibliography

DK. 2021. Science the Definitive Visual Guide. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 520 p. ISBN 9780241446331. Pages 18-19.

DK. 2022. Big History the Greatest Events of All Time from the Big Bang to Binary Code. London, United Kingdom: Penguin Random House. 375 p. ISBN 9780241515525. Pages 280-281.

Potter, W. 2023. Homo Sapiens the History of Humanity And the Development of Civilization. London, United Kingdom: Arcturus Publishing Limited. 256 p. ISBN 9781788280914. Pages 50-51, 66-67.

DK. 2022. Timelines of World History. London, United Kingdom: Penguin Random House. 320 p. ISBN 9780241515754. Pages 12-13, 15, 20.

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