Metal Revolution: The Eight Metals that Shaped Society

The discovery of metals revolutionised civilisations

The discovery of metals revolutionised civilisations. Making up around 25 percent of Earth’s crust, they have shaped the way we live and governed our development and progress as a society. Join us as we go back to the very beginnings of metallurgy, looking at the eight most influential metals that were harnessed in ancient times and some of the most notable uses of these metals.

The discovery of copper allowed humans to step out of the Stone Age and into the Copper Age, otherwise known as the Chalcolithic or Eneolithic, beginning in the late fifth millennium BCE and lasting at least 1,000 years. By around 4,000 BCE, copper was predominately used in metalworking technology, as it was malleable and held a sharp edge. Metalworkers were able to manipulate the metal however they wanted, hammering it into sheets and casting it into moulds to be worked into different shapes, which was quicker and easier than working with stone. Copper was fashioned into tools, fishhooks, ornaments, sculptures, and weapons, amongst many other things.

In Roman times, the Latin aes cyprium referred to copper from Cyprus, where the metal was extensively mined. The term was later corrupted to cuprum, the English word being derived from this.

Native metallic copper, with its unmistakable reddish-orange hue, became the first metal used widely by ancient cultures