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The Copper, Bronze, and Iron Ages are also known collectively as the Metal Ages. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] In history, archaeology and physical anthropology , the three-age system is a methodological concept adopted during the 19th century according to which artefacts and events of late prehistory and early history could be broadly ordered into a ...
The earliest gold artifacts were discovered at the site of Wadi Qana in the Levant. [13] Silver is estimated to have been discovered in Asia Minor shortly after copper and gold. [14] There is evidence that iron was known from before 5000 BC. [15] The oldest known iron objects used by humans are some beads of meteoric iron, made in Egypt in ...
Chalcolithic Age (copper age) beginning about 7,000 years ago: copper, gold, silver, mercury. In the early Bronze Age, lead was used with antimony and arsenic. [2] The use of meteoric iron–nickel alloy has been traced as far back as 3500 BC. Iron Age, Ancient Near East (1300–600 BC), India (1200–200 BC), Europe (1200 BC – 400 AD).
The Age of Iron in South Asia: Legacy and Tradition. Aryan Books International. Tylecote, R.F. (1975). A History of Metallurgy. Great Britain: Institute of Materials. Waldbaum, J.C. (1978). From Bronze to Iron: The Transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in the Eastern Mediterranean. Vol. 54– 55. P. Aström. ISBN 978-91-85058-79-2.
Copper was traditionally regarded as sacred by many historic period Eastern tribes. Copper nuggets are included in medicine bundles among Great Lakes tribes. Among 19th century Muscogee Creeks, a group of copper plates carried along the Trail of Tears are regarded as some of the tribe's most sacred items. [57]
Smiths in the Middle East discovered that wrought iron could be turned into a much harder product by heating the finished piece in a bed of charcoal, and then quenching it in water or oil. This procedure turned the outer layers of the piece into steel, an alloy of iron and iron carbides, with an inner core of less brittle iron.
While technology did advance to the point of creating surprisingly pure copper, most ancient metals are in fact alloys, the most important being bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. As metallurgical technology developed ( hammering , melting , smelting , roasting , cupellation , moulding , smithing , etc.), more metals were intentionally ...
In the modern world, iron alloys, such as steel, stainless steel, cast iron and special steels, are by far the most common industrial metals, due to their mechanical properties and low cost. The iron and steel industry is thus very important economically, and iron is the cheapest metal, with a price of a few dollars per kilogram or pound.