Metals and what they changed

How people learnt to use metals: copper, bronze, iron and gold, smelting and what it changed. Read one part at a time and tap “I know this”. Then test yourself in the quiz.

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Smelting

Charcoal burns hot enough; many trees were cut down for it.

A smith shapes hot metal. Ironworking was often secret or special, because smiths had rare knowledge; songs and stories tell of smiths.
A metal tool can be sharpened and rarely shatters; iron points made hunting tools sharper and stronger.
An old furnace site shows how and when people smelted.

Iron smelters melted ore in a clay furnace.

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Gold and trade

Gold is rare and does not rust; gold and silver were valued as money. The golden rhinoceros in a grave at Mapungubwe shows some people had higher rank. Metal and ivory were traded for glass beads and cloth. Mining today can cause dust, pollution and scarred land.

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Remember this: your summary

Copper was the first metal; bronze is an alloy of copper and tin.
Order around the Mediterranean: stone and bone, then copper, then bronze, then iron. In southern Africa people went straight from stone to iron (and copper), with no Bronze Age.
Ore is rock with metal; a smelter needs a furnace, charcoal and a strong draught (bellows); slag is the waste.
In southern Africa smelting began about 1 700 years ago; much evidence in Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
The iron hoe changed farming most.

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Memory trick

C-B-I: Copper, Bronze, Iron — “Cats Before Ice.”

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Important words

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Test yourself · Part 2

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