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Copper was probably the first metal mined and crafted by humans.[1] It was originally obtained as a native metal and later from the smelting of ores. Earliest estimates of the discovery of copper suggest around 9000 BC in the Middle East
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It is believed that lead smelting began at least 9,000 years ago, and the oldest known artifact of lead is a statuette found at the temple of Osiris on the site of Abydos dated around 3800 BC
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The earliest gold artifacts were discovered at the site of Nahal Qana in the Levant.
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Estimated to have been discovered in Asia Minor shortly after copper and gold
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There is evidence that iron was known from before 5000 BC. The oldest known iron objects used by humans are some beads of meteoric iron, made in Egypt in about 4000 BC. The discovery of smelting around 3000 BC led to the start of the Iron age around 1200 BC and the prominent use of iron for tools and weapons.
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The earliest known use of charcoal was for the reduction of copper, zinc, and tin ores in the manufacture of bronze, by the Egyptians and Sumerians.
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First smelted in combination with copper around 3500 BC to produce bronze
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First used at least 4,000 years ago. According to the Ebers Papyrus, a sulfur ointment was used in ancient Egypt to treat granular eyelids.
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Found in Egyptian tombs dating from 1500 BC
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Used as a component of brass since antiquity (before 1000 BC) by Indian metallurgists, but its true nature was not understood in ancient times. Identified as a distinct metal in the Rasaratna Samuccaya around the 14th century of the Christian er aand by the alchemist Paracelsus in 1526
