In our second episode, we look at how humans went from simple stones, to magnificent metal. How did we come to use copper? Where did we get it from? And what were the challenges of creating bronze? Find out in this latest episode.

References:

• Kradradjee, B., & Charles, J. A. (1980). The first metallurgists: Smelting and alloying in the ancient Near East. Journal of Archaeological Science, 7(3), 211–230.

• Pernicka, E. (2014). Provenance determination of archaeological metal objects. In Roberts, B. W., & Thornton, C. P. (Eds.), Archaeometallurgy in Global Perspective (pp. 239–268). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9017-3_10

• Radivojević, M., Rehren, T., Pernicka, E., Šljivar, D., Brauns, M., & Borić, D. (2010). On the origins of extractive metallurgy: New evidence from Europe. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37(11), 2775–2787. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.06.012

• Roberts, B. W., Thornton, C. P., & Pigott, V. C. (2009). Development of metallurgical technologies in the ancient world. World Archaeology, 41(4), 512–522. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438240903345134

• Wertime, T. A. (1973). The beginnings of metallurgy: A new look. Science, 182(4115), 875–887. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.182.4115.875

Script writing, recording and editing done by me, Jake. Sound effects and backing music from Pixabay.

Noticed a mistake? Let me know at thechemistrytimelinepod@gmail.com

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Chapters:

(00:00) Intro

(02:50) Act 1 - Extraction Chemistry: The Smelting Breakthrough

(07:46) Act 2 - The Crystal Lattice & The Arsenic Gamble

(12:19) Act 3 - Enter Tin: The Geopolitical Atom

(15:32) Act 4 - The Collapse and the Chemistry of Yesterday

(17:56) Conclusion