Which metal was mastered first? History of metals

As you know, the main material from which primitive people made tools was stone. It is not for nothing that the hundreds of thousands of years that passed between the appearance of man on earth and the emergence of the first civilizations are called the Stone Age. But in 5-6 millennia BC. e. people discovered metal.

Most likely, at first people treated metal in the same way as stone. He found, for example, copper nuggets and tried to process them in exactly the same way as stone, that is, by trimming, grinding, pressing flakes, etc. But the difference between stone and copper very quickly became clear. Perhaps, initially, people decided that metal nuggets would be of no use, especially since copper was quite soft, and the tools that were made from it quickly failed. Who came up with the idea of ​​smelting copper? Now we will never know the answer to this question. Most likely, everything happened by accident. A frustrated man threw a pebble, which seemed unsuitable for making an ax or arrowhead, into the fire, and then was surprised to notice that the pebble spread into a shiny puddle, and after the fire burned out, it froze. Then all it took was a little thought - and the idea of ​​melting was discovered. On the territory of modern Serbia, a copper ax was found, created 5,500 years before the birth of Christ.

True, copper, of course, was inferior in many characteristics even to stone. As mentioned above, copper is too soft a metal. Its main advantage was its fusibility, which made it possible to make a wide variety of objects from copper, but in terms of strength and sharpness it left much to be desired. Of course, before the discovery, for example, of Zlatoust steel (Article “Russian damask steel from Zlatoust”), several more millennia had to pass. After all, technologies were created gradually, at first - with uncertain, timid steps, through trial and countless errors. Copper was soon replaced by bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. True, tin, unlike copper, is not found everywhere. It was not for nothing that in ancient times Britain was called the “Tin Islands” - many peoples sent trading expeditions there for tin.

Copper and bronze became the basis of ancient Greek civilization. In the Iliad and Odyssey we constantly read that the Greeks and Trojans were dressed in copper and bronze armor and used bronze weapons. Yes, in ancient times metallurgy largely served the military. They often plowed the land the old fashioned way, with a wooden plow, and, for example, drains could be made of wood or clay, but the soldiers went to the battlefield in strong metal armor. However, bronze as a material for weapons had one serious drawback: it was too heavy. Therefore, over time, man learned to smelt and process steel.

Iron was known back in the days when the Bronze Age was going on on Earth. However, raw iron, obtained as a result of processing at a low temperature, was too soft. Meteorite iron was more popular, but it was very rare and could only be found by chance. However, meteorite iron weapons were expensive and it was very prestigious to have them. The Egyptians called daggers forged from meteorites that fell from the sky Heavenly.

It is generally accepted that iron processing became widespread among the Hittites who lived in the Middle East. They are the ones around 1200 BC. e. learned how to smelt real steel. For a time, the Middle Eastern powers became incredibly powerful, the Hittites challenged Rome itself, and the Philistines, mentioned in the Bible, controlled vast territories in the modern Arabian Peninsula. But soon their technological advantage faded away, because steel smelting technology, as it turned out, was not so difficult to borrow. The main problem was the creation of forges in which it was possible to reach the temperature at which iron was turned into steel. When the surrounding peoples learned to build such smelting furnaces, steel production began literally throughout Europe. Of course, a lot depended on the raw materials. After all, people only relatively recently learned to enrich raw materials with additional substances that impart new properties to steel. For example, the Romans mocked the Celts because many Celtic tribes had such poor steel that their swords would bend in battle and the warriors would have to run to the back row to straighten the blade. But the Romans admired the products of gunsmiths from India. And some Celtic tribes had steel that was not inferior to the famous Damascus. (Article “Damascus steel: myths and reality”)

But, in any case, humanity entered the Iron Age, and it could no longer be stopped. Even the widest spread of plastics that occurred in the twentieth century could not displace metal from most spheres of human activity.

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For many thousands of years, stone products were the main tools used by man. The craftsmen who processed the stone, like a sculptor, discerned a new quality in it and, cutting off the excess, produced the necessary item. However ancient man, in essence, only reproduced natural processes, destroying rocks.

The design of products, which was mastered over several thousand years, required the development of spatial thinking and the development of fundamentally new skills in the manufacture of composite tools made from several parts and connecting elements. But even in this case, before the eyes of the master there was raw material of natural origin. Even in the process of mastering the production of ceramics, the natural processes of firing clay in the flame of a fire were imitated. Making products from ore metal is a revolutionary technology, a technology that could not be “seen” in nature! This is the first completely artificial technology in the history of civilization. How did man learn to obtain and process metals? Let's look at a modern version of this amazing process.

What do lobster shells and the “supersteel” of the near future have in common? Scientists have found that the chitinous base of the shell, consisting of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen, is a honeycomb structure made of polymer crystals with dimensions on the order of a nanometer, the free space of which is filled with protein. This allows the material to simultaneously float in water and have a strength higher than that of many specialty steel grades. It remains to study and apply natural technology in practice. So, analysis of natural processes and structures is the key to success innovative technologies XXI century. However, man learned to wield this key in ancient times, and the development of metallurgical technologies is a clear example of this.

Native metals

Neolithic civilization was preceded by a long formation and slow development of tools and tools used by man. History of the primitive human society was inextricably linked with the stone. The most primitive stone products were ordinary river pebbles, chipped at one edge. The age of the oldest stone tools dates back to a period of about 2.5 million years. The most important event was the development of flint tools.

The form of such fundamental products for technical progress as an ax, sickle, knife, and hammer was first found and embodied in flint. The use of native metals most likely began in the Mesolithic era (Middle Stone Age), i.e. several tens of thousands of years ago. By this time, the skill of searching, extracting stones and making from them not only tools, but also jewelry for primitive man had become commonplace and turned into a kind of industry.

It was in the process of searching for stones suitable for making new products that man paid attention to the first nuggets of metals, apparently copper, which are much more common in nature than nuggets of noble metals - gold, silver, platinum. Native (telluric, from the Latin word “tellus” - earth) copper is still found today in many regions of the world: in Asia Minor, Indochina, Altai, and America. Copper nuggets weighing several kilograms can still be found. The largest occurrence of native copper is considered to be a solid copper vein discovered on the Kyusinaw Peninsula (Lake Superior, USA). Its mass is estimated at approximately 500 tons.

Not only noble metals can be present in native form under earthly conditions. It is known that nuggets of iron, mercury and lead are found in nature, and much less often - nuggets of metals and alloys such as zinc, aluminum, brass, and cast iron. They are found in the form of small leaves and scales embedded in rocks, most often basalt. In the 20th century, native iron was found, for example, on Disko Island near the coast of Greenland, in Germany (near the city of Kassel), in France (Auvergne department), in the USA (Connecticut). It always contains a significant amount of nickel, admixtures of cobalt, copper and platinum (from 0.1 to 0.5% by weight of each element) and, as a rule, is very poor in carbon. Finds of native cast iron are known, for example, on the Russky Islands (in the Far East) and Borneo, as well as in Avaria Bay (New Zealand), where the native alloy was represented by cohenite - iron-nickel-cobalt carbide (Fe, Ni, Co)3C.

Observation of the change in the shape of nuggets under the blows of hard stones gave a person the idea of ​​using them to make small jewelry by cold forging. Forging is the oldest method of metal forming. Mastering the method of processing native metal by forging was based on the skills and experience of making stone tools by “upholstering” the stone with a stone hammer. Native copper, which primitive people at first also considered a type of stone, when struck by a stone hammer did not produce the characteristic stone chips, but changed its size and shape without disturbing the continuity of the material. This is wonderful technological property“new stone” became a powerful incentive for the search and extraction of native metal and its use by humans. In addition, it has been observed that forging increases the hardness and strength of the metal.

At first, ordinary pieces of hard stone were used as a hammer. The primitive craftsman, holding a stone in his hand, struck with it a piece of native, and later metal smelted from ore. The evolution of this simplest forging method led to the creation of a prototype of a forging hammer equipped with a handle. However, metal processing by cold forging had limited possibilities. In this way, it was possible to give shape only to small objects - a pin, a hook, an arrowhead, an awl. Later, the technology of forging copper nuggets with preheating - annealing - was mastered.

Great opportunities for the development of the first metalworking technologies were provided by gold nuggets, a metal much more ductile than copper. Gold played an outstanding role in the development of mining and metallurgical production of civilization. The first gold deposits developed by man were alluvial deposits. Gold nuggets were found in a mass of alluvial sands and gravels, which were products of the destruction of gold-bearing rocks that had been exposed to river flows for a long time. Apparently, the oldest gold jewelry were nuggets processed into beads by cold forging. These polished beads looked like colored stones, strung together in various combinations.

When extracting gold from veins, technologies were created that were then used to develop deposits of other ancient metals. Gold was the first metal from which they learned to cast products, produce wire and foil, gold was first subjected to refining. Essentially, all metallurgical technologies used in the era of the Ancient World for silver, copper, lead, and tin were initially developed using gold.

However, the basis of civilization until the 3rd millennium BC. e. there was a stone left. A characteristic feature of early Neolithic technology was the transition to large stone tools. Their appearance is associated with the development of new technological methods of stone processing - drilling, sawing, grinding. Composite (“liner”) tools were invented, in which stone material was used only for the working part, and handles were made of wood, horn or bone. Gradually, the repair of guns began to develop - their correction as the working part wore out. Mining operations arose in which fire was used to destroy rocks. An amazing technical achievement of Neolithic people is the extraction of flints in mines with a vertical shaft up to 10 m deep and short drifts. Thus, at the beginning of the Neolithic revolution, people had diverse knowledge about natural substances and materials, methods of their processing.

Thermal technologies of the Neolithic

The most important distinguishing feature of a productive Neolithic economy is the creation of a food supply. When solving the problem of making dishes for storing it, ceramic products are invented and thermal technologies are gradually developed. The first ceramic products were baskets made of twigs, coated with clay and fired over a fire. Then special kilns were created - forges.

Neolithic kiln adapted for natural blast

Modern reconstructions reproduce the Neolithic method of firing ceramics as follows. The forge was built on a steep river bank, within the walls of ravines or hills, and consisted of two branches. The horizontal sleeve served as a firebox, and the vertical sleeve was filled with pots. When the forge was filled with pre-dried pots, the top was filled with potting scrap and a low fire was built using damp wood. Such a fire was maintained until the separation of vapors ceased, after which the fire was intensified to red heat. The pots were kept in this fire for at least 6 hours. Then the top of the furnace was covered with sand, the firebox was covered with clay and the unit was left in this state for several days. After this, a hole was made in the firebox and gradually enlarged. Finally, they opened the top of the forge and took out the finished pots. Such ancient kilns for firing ceramics were discovered in Mesopotamia, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. The heating temperature of the products in them reached 1100 °C.

To master metallurgical technology for extracting metal from ore, which requires reliable high temperatures, a furnace with artificial blast was needed. For the first time, such kilns were created for pottery production. Thus, a person became acquainted with ore metal during roasting clay pots. There was a process of metal recovery from substances applied to the walls of pottery for their coloring. It is known that copper carbonates - malachite and lapis lazuli, mercury sulfide - cinnabar, yellow, red and brown iron ocher are bright mineral paints, and applying colored patterns to ceramic products is one of the oldest species art.

The process of gradual development of new metals and materials by civilization

The first ore metal mastered by man was copper. This apparently happened about 10 thousand years ago. The oldest products made from ore copper are currently considered to be pins, awls, drills, beads, rings and pendants found in the settlements of Çayonü Tepesi and Çatal Höyük, which are located on the Konya plateau in Turkey. These finds date back to the 8th–7th millennium BC. e.

The beginning of the metal era

The real era of metals began in Eurasia in the 5th millennium BC. e. It is characterized by rarities discovered in the north of the Balkan Peninsula and in the Carpathian region. In archeology, these territories are usually classified as the most important Balkan-Carpathian metallurgical province of the Copper-Stone Age.

In the early 70s of the last century, incredibly rich and expressive monuments were discovered there: the Varna “golden” necropolis and the huge Aibunar mine, where, according to calculations, at least 30 thousand tons of copper ore were mined. More than 3 thousand various gold and about 100 copper items were found in Varna burials. Gold jewelry and objects decorated with complex ornaments attract special attention, but massive copper tools, instruments and weapons are of no less interest to specialists.

The gold and copper of the Balkan-Carpathian metallurgical province posed an unexpected problem for researchers of ancient metal: what were the general efforts of this metallurgical production aimed at? For the casting and forging of metal tools in order to increase productivity, as taught in most well-known textbooks, or for something else? Calculations by archaeologists have shown that from the very first steps of mining and metallurgical production, the overwhelming share of its energy was aimed at creating those products that served symbolic spheres public life, – jewelry, attributes of power and ritual objects. A giant piece of metal served as a kind of evidence social significance deceased. Thus, for several millennia, metals served primarily a social rather than a productive function.

In the 5th millennium BC. e. In most parts of Eurasia, oxidized copper ores were actively mined, the veins of which reached the surface. Mining workings They were narrow cracks that were formed as a result of the excavation of ore-bearing veins. If a miner encountered a powerful ore lens, the gap would turn into a cavity at the mine site. The oldest copper mines have been discovered in Mesopotamia, Spain and the Balkan Peninsula. In the era of antiquity, the island of Cyprus became one of the largest deposits of copper; from its late Latin name “cuprum” the modern name for copper came as chemical element. The Russian name for metal comes from the ancient Slavic word “smida”, which meant metal in general. Let us note that the term “Smida” goes back to those ancient times, when the ancestors of the Slavs and Germans were still a single Indo-Aryan people. Subsequently, in Germanic languages, the term “smida” began to be used to designate a person working with metal, and was fixed in the form “smith” (English) or “schmidt” (German) - “blacksmith”.

The development of underground ore deposits was developed in the 4th millennium BC. e. The depth of the mine workings reached 30 m or more. Fire, water and wooden wedges were used to crush the rock. A fire was lit near the area being mined, the rock was heated, and then quickly cooled by pouring plenty of water. Wooden wedges were driven into the resulting cracks, which were also watered with water. Swelling, the wedges split rock. The fragments of ore rock were again heated in the flame of a fire, sharply cooled and crushed with hammers and picks directly in the mines. Crushed ore was removed from the mines in leather bags or wicker baskets. It was then pounded in large stone mortars until it was the size of a pea. Ancient metallurgists used charcoal, dense wood, and bones as fuel for smelting metal.

The most ancient method of processing copper ore is crucible smelting: the ore was mixed with fuel and placed in crucibles made of clay mixed with bone ash. The dimensions of the crucibles were small, their height was 12–15 cm, and holes were provided in the lid for the release of gases. In the Neolithic pottery hearths described above, temperatures (up to 1100 °C) were reached sufficient to produce copper containing up to 2% by weight. natural impurities of arsenic, nickel, antimony. Subsequently, pit furnaces began to be installed for copper smelting. In this case, a clay crucible with ore and coal was placed in a shallow pit with a layer of charcoal. Of particular importance was the choice of the smelting location, which was supposed to provide an intense flow of air into the unit to fan the fire and achieve the required temperature.

The amount of copper produced in crucibles was small and usually amounted to several tens of grams, so they gradually switched to producing copper in pits directly from ore. To do this, copper ore mixed with charcoal was placed in pits up to 30 cm deep, the bottom of which was lined with stones. Some more charcoal was poured over the charge layer, and tree branches and a small amount of earth were placed on top so as not to impede the flow of air inside the pile. They tried to locate the smelting site on the slopes of hills to take advantage of natural air movement. This was the first “industrial” metallurgical unit.

Upon completion of the smelting, the unburned fuel was removed, and the resulting metal was crushed into pieces convenient for use. This was done immediately after the metal had hardened, since at this stage copper is especially fragile and can easily be broken into pieces with a hammer. To give raw copper a marketable appearance, it was subjected to cold forging. It was discovered very early that copper is a soft and malleable metal, easily compacted and freed from rough inclusions with the simplest mechanical treatment.

With many advantages, copper, even naturally alloyed, had a very significant drawback: copper tools quickly became dull. The wear resistance and other properties of copper were not so high that copper tools and tools could completely replace stone ones. Therefore, during the Copper-Stone Age (4th millennium BC), stone successfully competed with copper, which is reflected in the name of the era. The decisive step in the transition from stone to metal was made after the invention of bronze.

As indicated in the previous chapter, individual copper crafts (mainly jewelry) appeared very early. Currently, archeology cannot accurately indicate where ores were first smelted or where bronze, an alloy of copper with other metals, was first obtained. In all likelihood, people first used copper of native origin, which was processed as a special type of stone that had ductile properties. But when they discovered that pieces of copper ore began to melt when heated strongly, and when cooled they became solid again, the process of metal smelting was discovered. The new property of copper began to be used to create tools with a pre-conceived shape, i.e. the foundry process was invented.

With the development of copper smelting, interest in it increased as a new material for making tools, and not just jewelry. However, native copper is rarely found on the surface of the earth. In the 5th millennium BC. e. began to develop oxidized copper ores, the veins of which came to the surface. The development of sulfide ores dates back to a later time. The workings were narrow cracks that were formed as a result of the excavation of ore-bearing veins. If a miner encountered a powerful ore lens, the gap would turn into a cavity at the mine site. In the 4th millennium BC. e. began to move on to the development of underground deposits. On the Balkan Peninsula, for example, mine workings reached a depth of 27 m. To break off pieces of ore, it was necessary to first heat the rock and then pour water on it. The result was cracks into which wooden wedges soaked in water were inserted. When the wooden wedges swelled, they tore the ores into pieces. On the Balkan Peninsula, socketed wedges made from deer antler were discovered in workings. It is believed that miners used them to extract copper ore from the veins.

The process of ore enrichment took place near the mines. At first, the dry enrichment method was known: the mined ore was separated from the waste rock and crushed with stone hammers. Later they began to use the wet enrichment method. The crushed ore was placed in wooden trays with water. The trays shook, as a result, the heavier pieces of ore settled to the bottom, and the lighter waste rock floated to the top. It was raked, and pieces of copper ore remained in the tray. Sulfide copper ores were burned for a long time in fires before smelting.

Ore was also smelted near the mines in special clay furnaces. To obtain a higher temperature in the furnace, people blew air through blower tubes. In the 3rd millennium BC. e. Leather blowers were invented. Metal ingots smelted from copper ores served as an exchange item; As a rule, metallurgists did not engage in jewelry and blacksmithing.

In the 5th millennium BC. e. people became acquainted with other non-ferrous metals: silver and gold.

The first alloy, as researchers suggest, was billon - an alloy of copper and silver. From it in Southern Turkmenistan at the turn of the 5th-4th millennium BC. e. they forged jewelry (pins). The alloy of copper and arsenic became known in the 4th millennium BC. e. Arsenic alloys appear in Transcaucasia a thousand years earlier than the tin bronzes of Western Europe. From the 3rd millennium BC e. In the countries of the Ancient East, bronze was more often obtained from an alloy of copper with varying proportions of tin. Compared to copper, bronze alloys are distinguished by their low fusibility, high casting qualities, and great strength. Depending on the purpose of the casting, from 1-2% to 8-10% tin was added to the metal. The more tin was added, the more fragile the product was.

If the ore was smelted in the immediate vicinity of the mining sites, then copper and bronze products were cast in the settlements. To obtain a bronze alloy, copper and tin or copper and arsenic, taken in certain proportions, were placed in clay crucibles, which were placed in a furnace. Molten metal from crucibles was poured into molds made of sand, stone, and wood. First, open and then closed casement forms were used. Weapons, tools and various tools were cast in molds. Artistic and jewelry cast from a wax model. The model was sculpted from wax, onto which finely ground clay was applied in layers until the clay wall became strong. Special holes were left in the clay mold to melt out the wax and pour the bronze alloy inside. After cooling, in order to remove the object, the clay was broken, and to obtain a new casting, the entire process had to be repeated again. Products cast from a wax model are of artistic value.

Non-ferrous metal ores were poorly accessible for development; Tin deposits - the main raw material for bronze alloys - were known in ancient times on a rather limited scale. Metal had to be transported from the ore mining site over very long distances. All this prevented the widespread introduction of non-ferrous metals into production. According to F. Engels, “...bronze provided suitable tools and weapons, but could not displace stone tools; only iron could do this, and they did not yet know how to mine iron” (Marx K., Engels F. Soch., vol. 21, p. 161).

The special properties of the new material were quickly mastered, more productive tools and weapons were created, which could not but affect the development of agriculture and crafts.

Like gold and silver, copper is sometimes found in the earth's crust in the form of nuggets. Perhaps the first metal tools were made from them about 10 thousand years ago. The spread of copper was facilitated by its properties, such as its ability to be cold forged and the ease of smelting from rich ores. In Cyprus, already in the 3rd millennium BC there were copper mines and copper smelting was carried out. This is where the Latin name for copper comes from – cuprum. Copper mines appeared on Russian territory two millennia BC. e. Their remains are found in the Urals, the Caucasus, and Siberia. In the writings of the ancient Greek historian Strabo, copper is called chalkos, from the name of the city of Chalkis. Many terms in geochemistry and mineralogy originate from this word, for example, chalcophile elements, chalcopyrite. The Russian word copper is found in the most ancient literary monuments and does not have a clear etymology. Some researchers refer the origin of the term to the name of the ancient state of Media, located on the territory of modern Iran.

The simple substance copper is a ductile metal of golden-pink color. In the Periodic Table it occupies cell number 29 (symbol Cu) with atomic mass 63, 55 amu

Chalcopyrite crystal 4x5x4 cm. Nikolaevsky mine, Primorsky Krai.

According to data for 2016, the world leader in copper reserves is Chile with a share of 34%, second and third places are shared by the USA and Peru - 9% each, fourth place is Australia - 6%, fifth place is Russia with a share of 5%. Other countries less than 5%.

Copper ore reserves for 2016

The largest copper-producing country is Chile. On its territory there is the world's largest copper deposit, Chuquicamata (Spanish: Chuquicamata), where copper ore has been mined by open-pit mining since 1915. The quarry is located in the central Andes at an altitude of 2840 m and is currently the largest quarry in the world: length - 4.3 km, width - 3 km, depth - 850 m.

Chuquicamata Quarry, Chile.

Copper is widely used in electrical engineering for the manufacture of power and other cables, wires and other conductors. In 2011, the cost of copper was about $9,000 per ton. Due to the global economic crisis, the price of most types of raw materials fell, and the cost of 1 ton of copper in 2016 did not exceed $4,700.

What metal did people learn to use first? and got the best answer

Answer from A-stra[guru]
, is believed to be the first metal that man learned to process and use for his needs. Copper artifacts found in the upper reaches of the Tigris River date back to the tenth millennium BC. Later, the widespread use of copper alloys determined the material culture of the Bronze Age (late 4th - early 1st millennium BC) and subsequently accompanied the development of civilization at all stages. Copper and its materials were used to make dishes, utensils, jewelry, and various artistic items.
The first metals that people learned to work with were copper and gold. The reason for this was the fact that both copper and gold are found in nature not only in ores, but also in pure form. People found whole nuggets of gold and pieces of copper and used a hammer to give them the desired shape. Moreover, these metals did not even need to be melted. And although we still do not know exactly when people learned to use metals, scientists can vouch for the fact that man first used copper around the fifth millennium, and gold no later than the fourth millennium BC.
Around the third millennium BC, people discovered some of the most important properties of metals. By that time, man had already become acquainted with silver and lead, but most often he still used copper, mainly because of its strength, and, perhaps, also because copper was found in abundance.
Having started working with metals, people learned to give them the desired shapes and make dishes, tools, and weapons from them. But as soon as a person became acquainted with metals, he could not help but pay attention to their beneficial features. If a metal is heated, it becomes softer, and if it is then cooled again, it hardens again. Man learned to cast, cook and melt metals. In addition, people learned how to extract metals from ores, because they are much more common in nature than nuggets.
Later, man discovered tin, and having learned to mix and melt copper and tin, he began to make bronze. During the period from 3500 to about 1200 BC, bronze became the main material from which weapons and tools were made. This period of human history is called the Bronze Age.
Finding meteorites that fell on our Earth, people learned about iron - long before they learned to obtain it from earthly ores. Around 1200 BC, man crossed this barrier and learned to smelt iron. This skill quickly spread throughout the world. Iron has replaced copper in almost all areas. This was the beginning of the next, Iron Age. By the way, during the power of the Roman Empire, people knew gold, copper, silver, tin, iron, lead and mercury.
Source: link

Answer from AlikR[guru]
gold

Answer from Nikita Menshikov[guru]
Steel, copper, bronze, and OF COURSE GOLD

Answer from Vadim Mileshchuk[guru]
Copper, then bronze!

Answer from Sage[guru]
Man learned to use metals, primarily soft ones, such as tin and copper, and began to make tools and weapons from them by melting them down. The ancient Greeks, Babylonians and Egyptians did not know iron for a long time, but even despite this, they made considerable progress, wrote books and used gold and silver. At that time, the Mexicans, Peruvians, Mayan people and other races of the aborigines of the New World were comparatively more civilized and built huge temples, gold and silver were common among them (in fact, the passionate desire to possess this gold and silver led to the fact that the Spaniards destroyed them ) . But they did all this using flint tools - they did not even suspect the existence of iron.

Answer from Valera Khimchenko[guru]
Copper

Answer from Kazakh[guru]
bronze or copper

Answer from Dusya[guru]
Native copper followed by forging. They learned to smelt metal much later

Answer from Aida Alibaeva[newbie]
copper

Answer from Glyana Gurova[newbie]
I'm a sucker, I don't know where the upper reaches of the Tiger River are - on the right or on the left

Answer from Luydmila Pavlova[newbie]
The first metal mastered by man was gold, which he became acquainted with more than 10 thousand years ago, having begun to process it under pressure. Then comes native copper (processed by cold forging, then hot forging and annealing, and after that they began to obtain copper from ore and copper alloys, primarily bronze), native silver and meteorite iron. All these metals were processed by man only in a cold state using a stone hammer.
And when man mastered the methods of smelting metals from ore, casting and forging, the age of metals began.
Iron was first discovered in the Middle East around 3000 BC. uh, after that it actively began to displace bronze and copper.