The first metal that man mastered was iron. The oldest metals of mankind. Thermal technologies of the Neolithic

As indicated in the previous chapter, individual copper crafts (mainly jewelry) appeared very early. Currently, archeology cannot indicate exactly where they first began to smelt ores or where bronze was first obtained - an alloy of copper with other metals. In all likelihood, people first used native copper, which was processed as a special type of stone with plastic properties. But when it was 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-planned shape, that is, the casting process was invented.

With the development of copper smelting, interest in it increased as a new material for the manufacture of tools, and not just jewelry. However, native copper is rarely found on the surface of the earth. In the V millennium BC. NS. began to develop oxidized copper ores, the veins of which came out to the surface. The development of sulphide ores dates back to a later time. The workings were narrow slots that were formed as a result of the excavation of ore-bearing veins. If a miner stumbled upon a powerful ore lens, the gap would turn into a cavity at the mine site. In the IV millennium BC. NS. began to move to the development of underground deposits. On the Balkan Peninsula, for example, mine workings reached a depth of 27 m. To split off pieces of ore, it was necessary to first warm up the rock, then pour water over it. The result was cracks, into which wooden wedges soaked in water were inserted. When swelling, the wooden wedges tore the ores to pieces. In the workings of the Balkan Peninsula, socketed wedges-kayla made of antler have been found. It is believed that miners used them to extract copper ore from veins.

The ore dressing process took place close to the mining. At first, the dry method of beneficiation was known: the mined ore was separated from the waste rock and crushed with stone hammers. Later they began to use wet way enrichment. The crushed ore was placed in wooden trays filled with water. The trays were shaking, as a result pieces of ore, as heavier ones, settled down to the bottom, and lighter waste rock floated upward. It was raked up, and pieces of copper ore remained in the tray. Sulfide copper ores were burned on fires for a long time before smelting.

Ore was also smelted not far from mining in special clay kilns. To obtain a higher temperature in the oven, people blew air through the blower tubes. In the III millennium BC. NS. leather blowing furs were invented. Ingots of metal smelted from copper ores served as an object of exchange; as a rule, metallurgists were not engaged in jewelry and blacksmithing.

In the V millennium BC. NS. the person got acquainted with other non-ferrous metals: silver and gold.

The first alloy, as the researchers suggest, was billon - an alloy of copper and silver. From it in South Turkmenistan at the turn of the V-IV millennium BC. NS. forged jewelry (pins). The alloy of copper with arsenic became known in the 4th millennium BC. NS. Arsenic alloys appear in Transcaucasia a thousand years earlier than the tin bronzes of Western Europe. From the III millennium BC NS. in the countries of the Ancient East, bronze was obtained more often from an alloy of copper with various proportions of tin. Compared with copper, bronze alloys are characterized by low melting properties, 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 piece was.

While ore was smelted in the immediate vicinity of mining sites, copper and bronze items were cast in 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 of sand, stone, wood. First, they used open and then closed sash forms. Weapons, tools and various tools were cast in the molds. Artistic and jewelry items were cast using a wax model. The model was molded from wax, on which finely extinguished clay was applied in layers until the clay wall became solid. In the clay mold, special holes were left to melt out the wax and pour a bronze alloy inside. Upon cooling, in order to remove the object, the clay was broken, and to obtain a new casting, the whole process had to be repeated anew. Wax-cast items are of artistic value.

Non-ferrous metal ores were poorly available for mining; Tin deposits - the main raw material for bronze alloys - were known in antiquity on a rather limited scale. The 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 usable tools and weapons, but could not supplant stone tools; only iron could do it, and they still did not know how to extract iron ”(K. Marx, F. Engels 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 handicrafts.

Additional material for students number 2

on the topic "Minerals and alloys in the design

station "Revolution Square"

Moscow Metro "

Copper is the first metal mastered by man

The role of copper in the development of human culture is special. The use of copper and bronze as the most important materials lasted for millennia. Copper, like noble metals, sometimes forms nuggets. Scientists believe that it was from them that the first metal tools were made 10 thousand years ago. Due to the softness and widespread prevalence of copper in nature, man began to use it long before iron.

Historians have established that in ancient Egypt, when building pyramids, artisans used stone implements (from granite and dolerite) and copper tools. The metal was remarkable for its hardness. This allowed Egyptologists to assume that already in the III millennium BC. NS. The Egyptians possessed some special recipe for machining copper, which gave the metal high strength.

The addition of tin to copper markedly increases the strength and hardness of the material. This was known 5000 years ago, and possibly even earlier. Obtaining copper alloys was the greatest achievement of ancient metallurgy and gave the name to an entire era - the Bronze Age.

Change of eras different nations, in different parts of the globe it was uneven, and the chronological framework of the eras can only be indicated approximately:

STONE → COPPER AGE → BRONZE → IRON
CENTURY (Chalcolithic) CENTURY CENTURY

IV-III millennium IV-I millennium beginning of the I millennium

BC NS. BC NS. BC NS.

The spread of bronze in the advanced cultural centers of metallurgy began at the end of the 4th millennium BC. NS. The oldest bronze items were found on the territory of Mesopotamia (in Sumer), Turkey, Iran. At the end of the third millennium BC. NS. bronze appeared in Egypt, India, and in the middle of the II millennium BC. NS. - in China and Europe. In America, the Bronze Age covers the period from the 4th to the 10th century. n. NS. The leading metallurgical centers were located here in the territory of modern Peru and Bolivia.

In addition to bronzes - copper-tin alloys, the ancients also used copper-zinc alloys - brass, which are stronger and more malleable than bronzes. It is noteworthy that people of ancient times were not familiar with zinc as a substance. In its pure form, this metal was isolated only in the middle of the 18th century by electrolysis. So, during excavations in Thebes, papyri were found, which describe the secret of making "gold" from copper. In fact, they are, in all likelihood, about obtaining brass by adding natural zinc compounds to copper. Brass resembles gold with its color and brilliance.

Methods for obtaining copper

The low chemical activity of copper makes it possible for it to exist in nature in a native state.

More than 200 minerals are known that contain copper, including chalcopyrite (copper pyrite) CuFeS2, malachite (CuOH) 2CO3, chalcocite (copper luster) Cu2S, cuprite Cu2O.

Pure copper is obtained different methods... Hydrometallurgical method - extraction of metals from ores using reagents (H2SO4, KCN, etc.) in the form of compounds soluble in water, followed by treatment of these solutions to isolate metals in free form.

When treating ore containing CuO with dilute sulfuric acid, copper goes into solution in the form of sulfate:

CuO + H2SO4 = CuSO4 + H2O

Then it is removed from the solution either by electrolysis, or displaced from the sulfate by iron:

CuSO4 + Fe = Cu + FeSO4

All methods of obtaining copper from compounds are based on redox processes.

Chemical properties of copper

In dry form and at ordinary temperatures, copper hardly changes. At elevated temperatures, copper can react with simple and complex substances.

Interaction with simple substances:

Cu + Cl2 = CuCl2

2CuO + O2 = 2CuO

Interaction with complex substances:

Cu + 2H2SO4 = CuSO4 + SO2 + 2H2O

Cu + 4HNO3 = Cu (NO) 3 + 2NO2 + 2H2O

Copper and its alloys

Copper has a melting point of 1083 ° C.

There are two groups of copper alloys: brass- copper-zinc alloys, bronze- copper alloys with other (except zinc) elements.

Aluminum "href =" / text / category / alyuminij / "rel =" bookmark "> aluminum, Mn - manganese, C - lead, B - beryllium, Mg - magnesium, Cp - silver, F - iron, Mn - arsenic, Cy - antimony, K - silicon, N - nickel, T - titanium, Kd - cadmium, O - tin, F - phosphorus, X - chromium, C - zinc.

All bronze is marked with the abbreviation "Br" indicating this category of copper alloys. After the designation of the class of copper alloy "Br" there are letters to help identify the added elements.

For example, BrO5Ts6 means that this bronze alloy contains 5% tin and 6% zinc, and the designation BrO5Ts2N5 indicates that the alloy includes 5% tin, 2% zinc and 5% nickel. The BrO10Ts2 marking identifies a bronze alloy containing 10% tin and 2% zinc.

At the Leningrad state copper-processing plant Krasny Vyborzhets (1924), the so-called artistic decorative bronze with a zinc addition not exceeding 6% was used for casting.

But for projects at the plant, 80 sculptural figures were cast for the "Revolution Square" station of the Moscow metro.

Varieties of marble in the design of metro stations

Each metro station is like a mineralogical museum, each of them has its own exposition.

The basement of the Ploschad Revolutsii metro station is faced with black Armenian marble-like limestone with “gold” veins. The arches were made of solid stones cut from marble blocks. The pylon walls are faced with red shrosha, gray-blue ufaley, yellow-pink marble-like biyuk-yanka limestone. The track walls of the station were decorated with gray Ufalei marble, with a cornice made of red shrosh, a base-carpet mosaic made of olive-black marble-like limestones, garden and dala. The floor of the station hall is a checkerboard alternation of dark gray Zhezhelevsky granite and black gabbro, and the platforms are finished with the same granite and labranite.

On the walls of the platforms there are bronze arrows with the inscriptions "Exit to the city" - these are the oldest surviving signs of the Moscow metro.

The following types of marble are most common in construction practice:

Ufaleisky(Ufaley), blue-gray.

Marbles of Georgia. Shroshinsky (Shrosha), dark red with white veins.

Sadakhlinsky(Sadakhlo), dark black with white and yellowish-golden veins.

Marbles of Armenia. Davalinsky (Davalu), black with golden streaks. This marble is usually used in combination with marbles of other tones for pedestals and basements of marble cladding.

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 cold forge and ease of smelting from rich ores. In Cyprus, already in the 3rd millennium BC, copper mines existed and copper was smelted. From here comes the Latin name for copper - suprum. Copper mines appeared on the territory of Russia two millennia BC. NS. Their remains are found in the Urals, the Caucasus, Siberia. In the writings of the ancient Greek historian Strabo, copper is called khalkos, from the name of the city of Chalkis. Many terms in geochemistry and mineralogy originated from this word, for example - chalcophilic elements, chalcopyrite. The Russian word copper is found in the most ancient literary monuments and has no 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.

A simple substance copper is a plastic metal of golden-pink color. In the periodic table it occupies cell number 29 (symbol Cu) with an atomic mass of 63, 55 amu.


Chalcopyrite crystal 4х5х4 cm.Nikolaevsky mine, Primorsky Territory.

According to data for 2016, the world leader in copper reserves is Chile with a share of 34%, the second and third places are shared by the United States and Peru - 9% each, the fourth is Australia - 6%, the fifth is Russia with a share of 5%. The rest of the countries are 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, where copper ore has been mined in an open way 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. For 2011, the cost of copper was about $ 9000 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.

“Seven metals created light according to the number of seven planets” - in these simple rhymes one of the most important postulates of medieval alchemy was concluded. In antiquity and in the Middle Ages, only seven metals and the same number of celestial bodies (the Sun, the Moon and five planets, not counting the Earth) were known. According to the then luminaries of science, only fools and ignoramuses could fail to see in this the deepest philosophical regularity. A slender alchemical theory said that gold is represented in the heavens by the Sun, silver is a typical Moon, copper is undoubtedly related by kinship with Venus, iron is personified by Mars, mercury corresponds to Mercury, tin to Jupiter, lead to Saturn. Until the 17th century, metals were also designated in the literature by the corresponding symbols.

Figure 1 - Alchemical signs of metals and planets

More than 80 metals are currently known, most of which are used in technology.

Since 1814, at the suggestion of the Swedish chemist Berzelius, letter signs have been used to designate metals.

The first metal that man learned to work was gold. The most ancient things made of this metal were made in Egypt about 8 thousand years ago. In Europe 6 thousand years ago, they were the first to start making from gold and bronze Jewelry and weapons of the Thracians who lived on the territory from the Danube to the Dnieper.

Historians distinguish three stages in the development of mankind: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.

In the 3rd millennium BC. people began to widely use in their economic activity metals. The transition from stone to metal tools was of colossal importance in the history of mankind. Perhaps no other discovery has led to such significant social changes.

The first metal to become widespread was copper (Figure 2).

Figure 2 - Map-diagram of the territorial-chronological distribution of metals in Eurasia and North Africa

The map clearly shows the location of the oldest finds of metal products. Almost all known artifacts dating back to the period from the end of the 9th to the 6th millennium BC. (i.e., before the Uruk-type culture spread widely in Mesopotamia), originate from only three dozen sites scattered over a vast territory of 1 million km 2. About 230 small samples were recovered from here, and 2/3 of them belong to two settlements of the pre-ceramic Neolithic - Chaionu and Ashikli.

Constantly looking for the stones they need, our ancestors, one must think, already in ancient times drew attention to the reddish-green or greenish-gray pieces of native copper. In the cliffs of the banks and rocks, they came across copper pyrite, copper luster and red copper ore (cuprite). At first, people used them like ordinary stones and processed them accordingly. They soon discovered that when the copper was hammered with a stone hammer, its hardness increased significantly and it became suitable for making tools. Thus, the methods of cold working of metal or primitive forging came into use.


Then another important discovery was made - a piece of native copper or surface rock containing metal, getting into the fire of a fire, discovered new features that were not characteristic of a stone: from strong heating, the metal melted and, cooling down, took on a new shape. If the form was made artificially, then a product necessary for a person was obtained. Ancient craftsmen used this property of copper first for casting jewelry, and then for the production of copper tools. This is how metallurgy was born. Smelting began to be carried out in special high-temperature furnaces, which were a somewhat modified design well known to people pottery kilns (Figure 3).

Picture 3 - Melting of metal in Ancient Egypt (blowing is supplied by furs, sewn from animal skins)

In Southeastern Anatolia, archaeologists have discovered a very ancient pre-pottery Neolithic settlement, Chaionu Tepesi (Figure 4), which was struck by the unexpected complexity of stone architecture. Scientists have found among the ruins about a hundred small pieces of copper, as well as many fragments of a copper mineral - malachite, some of which were processed into beads.

Figure 4 - Settlement of Chaionu Tepesi in Eastern Anatolia: IX-VIII millennium BC The oldest metal on the planet was discovered here

Generally speaking, copper is a soft metal, much inferior in hardness to stone. But the brass tools could be sharpened quickly and easily. (According to S.A.Semenov's observations, when replacing a stone ax with a copper one, the cutting speed increased approximately threefold.) The demand for metal tools began to grow rapidly.

People began a real "hunt" for copper ore. It turned out that it is not found everywhere. In those places where rich copper deposits were found, their intensive development occurred, ore and mine work appeared. As the discoveries of archaeologists show, already in antiquity, the process of ore mining was set up on a large scale. For example, near Salzburg, where copper mining began around 1600 BC, the mines reached a depth of 100 m, and the total length of the drifts extending from each mine was several kilometers.

The ancient miners had to solve all the tasks that modern miners face: strengthening the vaults, ventilation, lighting, climbing a mountain of mined ore. The adits were reinforced with wooden supports. The mined ore was smelted nearby in low clay kilns with thick walls. Similar centers of metallurgy existed in other places (Figures 5 and 6).

Figure 5 - Ancient mines

Figure 6 - Tools of ancient miners

At the end of the 3rd millennium BC. ancient craftsmen began to use the properties of alloys, the first of which was bronze. The discovery of bronze should have been prompted by an accident that was inevitable in the mass production of copper. Some grades of copper ores contain insignificant (up to 2%) tin impurities. Smelting such ore, the craftsmen noticed that the copper obtained from it is much harder than usual. Tin ore could have entered the copper smelting furnaces for another reason. Be that as it may, observations of the properties of ores led to the development of the value of tin, which they began to add to copper, forming an artificial alloy - bronze. When heated with tin, copper melted better and was easier to cast, as it became more fluid. Bronze tools were harder than copper ones, and sharpened well and easily. Bronze metallurgy has made it possible to increase labor productivity several times in all industries human activity(Figure 7).

The production of tools itself has become much easier: instead of long and hard work hammering and polishing the stone, people filled the finished forms with liquid metal and received results that their predecessors had never dreamed of even in a dream. The casting technique was gradually improved. At first, casting was carried out in open clay or sand molds, which were simply a depression. They were replaced by open forms carved from stone that could be reused. However, the big disadvantage of open forms was that only flat products were obtained in them. They were not suitable for casting complex shapes. A way out was found when closed detachable forms were invented. Before casting, the two halves of the mold were firmly connected to each other. Then molten bronze was poured through the hole. When the metal cooled and hardened, the mold was disassembled and a finished product was obtained.

Figure 7 - Bronze tools

This method made it possible to cast products of complex shapes, but it was not suitable for shaped casting. But even this difficulty was overcome when the closed form was invented. With this casting method, an exact model of the future product was first molded from wax. Then it was coated with clay and fired in an oven.

The wax melted and evaporated, and the clay took on an accurate cast of the model. Bronze was poured into the void thus formed. When it cooled down, the mold was broken. Thanks to all these operations, craftsmen were able to cast even hollow objects of very complex shapes. Gradually, new techniques for working with metals were discovered, such as drawing, riveting, brazing and welding, complementing the already known forging and casting (Figure 8).

Figure 8 - Golden Hat of the Celtic Priest

Perhaps the largest metal casting was made by Japanese craftsmen. It was 1200 years ago. It weighs 437 tons and represents the Buddha in a pose of peace. The height of the sculpture together with the pedestal is 22 m. The length of one arm is 5 m. Four people could dance freely on an open palm. We add that the famous ancient Greek statue - the Colossus of Rhodes - 36 m high and weighed 12 tons. It was cast in the III century. BC NS.

With the development of metallurgy, bronze products began to supplant stone ones everywhere. But one shouldn't think that it happened very quickly. Non-ferrous metal ores were not available everywhere. Moreover, tin was found much less frequently than copper. Metals had to be transported over long distances. The cost of metal tools remained high. All this prevented their wide distribution. Bronze could not completely replace stone tools. Only the gland was able to do this.

In addition to copper and bronze, other metals were also widely used.

Beads and pendants found in Asia Minor during excavations of Chatal-Huyuk and seals and figurines found in Yarim-Tepe (Northern Mesopotamia) are considered to be the most ancient items made of lead. These findings date back to the 6th millennium BC. The first iron rarities, which are small krytsy found in Chatal Huyuk, date back to the same time. The oldest silver items were found in Iran and Anatolia. In Iran, they were found in the town of Tepe-Sialk: these are buttons dating from the beginning of the 5th millennium BC. In Anatolia, in Beyjesultan, a silver ring was found dating from the end of the same millennium.

In prehistoric times, gold was obtained from placers by washing. It came out in the form of sand and nuggets. Then they began to use gold refining (removal of impurities, separation of silver), in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. In the 13-14 centuries, they learned to use nitric acid to separate gold and silver. And in the 19th century, the amalgamation process was developed (although it was known in antiquity, there is no evidence that it was used to extract gold from sands and ores).

Silver was mined from galena, along with lead. Then, centuries later, they began to be smelted together (by about the 3rd millennium BC in Asia Minor), and this became widespread even after 1500-2000 years.

Around 640 BC NS. began to mint coins in Asia Minor, and around 575 BC. NS. - in Athens. In fact, this is the beginning of stamping production.

Tin was once smelted long ago in simple shaft furnaces, after which it was purified by special oxidizing processes. Now in metallurgy, tin is obtained by processing ores according to complex complex schemes.

Well, mercury was produced by roasting ore in heaps, in which it condensed on cold objects. Then ceramic vessels (retorts) appeared, which were replaced by iron ones. And with the growing demand for mercury, it began to be obtained in special furnaces.

Iron was known in China as early as 2357 BC. e., and in Egypt - in 2800 BC. e., although as early as 1600 BC. NS. iron was looked upon as a curiosity. The Iron Age in Europe began around 1000 BC. e., when the art of smelting iron penetrated the states of the Mediterranean from the Scythians of the Black Sea region.

The use of iron began much earlier than its production. Sometimes they found pieces of grayish-black metal, which, forged into a dagger or a spearhead, gave a weapon more durable and ductile than bronze, and held a sharp blade longer. The difficulty was that this metal was found only by accident. Now we can say that it was meteoric iron. Since iron meteorites are an iron-nickel alloy, it can be assumed that the quality of individual unique daggers, for example, could compete with modern consumer goods. However, the same uniqueness led to the fact that such weapons were not on the battlefield, but in the treasury of the next ruler.

Iron tools have drastically expanded the practical possibilities of man. It became possible, for example, to build houses chopped from logs - after all, an iron ax felled wood not three times, like a copper one, but 10 times faster than a stone one. Construction of cut stone has also become widespread. It, of course, was used in the Bronze Age, but a large consumption of relatively soft and expensive metal strongly limited such experiments. The possibilities of farmers have also expanded significantly.

For the first time, the peoples of Anatolia learned how to process iron. The ancient Greek tradition considered the Khalib people to be the discoverer of iron, for whom the constant expression “father of iron” was used in the literature, and the very name of the people comes precisely from the Greek word Χ? Λυβας (“iron”).

The "Iron Revolution" began at the turn of the 1st millennium BC. NS. in Assyria. From the VIII century BC. e welded iron quickly spread in Europe, in the 3rd century BC. NS. displaced bronze in Gaul, in the II century AD it appeared in Germany, and in the VI century AD it was already widely used in Scandinavia and in the tribes living in the territory of the future Russia. In Japan, the Iron Age did not begin until the 8th century AD.

Initially, only small quantities of iron were received, and over several centuries it sometimes cost forty times more than silver. The iron trade restored the prosperity of Assyria. The way was opened for new conquests (Figure 9).

Figure 9 - Furnace for smelting iron among the ancient Persians

Metallurgists were able to see iron as liquid only in the 19th century, however, even at the dawn of iron metallurgy - at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC - Indian craftsmen were able to solve the problem of obtaining elastic steel without melting iron. This steel was called damask steel, but due to the complexity of manufacture and the lack of necessary materials in most of the world, this steel has remained an Indian secret for a long time.

A more technologically advanced way of producing elastic steel, which did not require any particularly pure ore, graphite, or special furnaces, was found in China in the 2nd century AD. Steel was reforged many times, folding the workpiece in half with each forging, resulting in an excellent weapon material called Damascus, from which, in particular, the famous Japanese katanas were made.

As you know, the main material from which primitive people made tools was stone. No wonder the hundreds of thousands of years that elapsed between the appearance of man on earth and the emergence of the first civilizations are called the Stone Age. But in the 5-6 millennia BC. NS. people discovered metal.

Most likely, at first, a person treated metal in the same way as a stone. He found, for example, copper nuggets and tried to work them in the same way as a stone, that is, by upholstering, grinding, squeezing out flakes, etc. But very quickly the difference between stone and copper became clear. Maybe even, initially, people decided that there would be no use from metal nuggets, especially since copper was soft enough, and the tools that were made from it quickly failed. Who invented to melt copper? Now we will never know the answer to this question. Most likely, everything happened by accident. An annoyed man threw a pebble, which seemed to him unsuitable for making an ax or an arrowhead, into the fire, and then was surprised to notice that the pebble spread out into a shiny puddle, and after the fire burned out, it froze. Then it only took a little thought - and the idea of ​​a 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 fusibility, which made it possible to make a 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 Bulat from Zlatoust"), several more millennia had to pass. After all, technologies were created gradually, at first - with hesitant, timid steps, by trial and countless mistakes. Copper was soon replaced by bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. True, tin, unlike copper, is not found everywhere. It is not for nothing that in antiquity Britain was called the "Tin Islands" - many peoples equipped there trade expeditions 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 in the old fashioned way, with a wooden plow, and, for example, gutters could be made of wood or clay, but fighters 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 of the Bronze Age on Earth. However, the raw iron produced by processing at low temperatures was too soft. Meteorite iron was more popular, but it was very rare, it could only be found by chance. However, meteorite iron weapons were expensive and very prestigious to own. The Egyptians called the daggers, forged from the meteorites that fell from the sky, Heavenly.

It is believed that the processing of iron was widespread among the Hittites who lived in the Middle East. They are about 1200 BC. NS. learned 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 owned vast territories in the modern Arabian Peninsula. But soon their technological advantage came to naught, because steelmaking 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 turns into steel. When the surrounding peoples learned to build such melting furnaces, the production of steel began literally throughout Europe. Of course, a lot depended on raw materials. After all, people have only relatively recently learned to enrich raw materials with additional substances that give new properties to steel. For example, the Romans scoffed at the Celts, because many Celtic tribes had such poor steel that their swords bent in battle, and the warriors had to run back to the back row to straighten the blade. But the Romans admired the products of the master armourers from India. And among some Celtic tribes, steel 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, which occurred in the twentieth century, could not oust metal from most spheres of human activity.

 

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