This presentation provides a brief historical overview of the development of metallurgy, the use of metals---copper, bronze, iron. This historical view takes into consideration the creation of utilitarian objects as well as art works as it surveys the ways in which metal work has evolved. This narrative explores the rise of metallurgy in a variety of cultures over thousands of years.

It is thought by some that humans developed agricultural and domesticated life styles around 8000 BC Humans transitioned from a nomadic lifestyle, that included hunting and gathering techniques of food acquisition, to living in permanent or semi permanent dwellings, frequently in clusters as in a village setting. During this period all tools and living implements were made out of ceramic, stone, antler, bone, wood and other natural elements. These materials varied depending upon their availability.

Ceramic work had been in use since the Paleolithic Period, around 35,000 BC Small objects were formed from a blend of soils, sand and cohered with a medium such as blood or water. These objects, frequently although not exclusively, were utilitarian in nature. After forming the object, it was then baked in an open fire. By the year 8,000 BC with the rise of village oriented life styles, ceramic work had become fairly sophisticated in form and materials. People were making reasonably large (2?) polychrome vessels and figures.

The period of time between 8,000 and 5,000 BC marks the transition from the use of found natural materials to copper. During this time, copper was smelted in small fires in holes dug into the ground. Smelting is a process of extracting metal from an ore. An ore is soil or rock with a high metallic content. Metal is what we call the oxidized form of an ore. During the smelting process, the ore is mixed with charcoal and the mixture is heated up to 2,000? F. The metal in the ore melts and gathers at the bottom of the crucible in which it is being smelted. During this period of time, the crucible would have been made of ceramic material.

Copper melts at a very high temperature and does not easily flow in its molten state. The fact of this lack of fluidity limited the size and shape of the objects that could be made during this period of time. At this early stage in the development of metallurgy, copper was used in the creation of small objects such as beads and very small tools.

The lost wax casting process emerged around 5,000 BC This process has remained in use to today. It is the favored technique of metallurgy for the creation of art work. The lost wax casting process involved creating a wax object that is then encased in a fire resistant shell or investment, typically made of clay. The investment, with the wax in it, is heated to 1,000? F.