Only 24 metals had been discovered prior to the 19th century. Of those 24, half were discovered in the 18th century. So that means that from the discovery of the first metals, gold and copper, to the end of the century, only 12 metals were known. Arsenic, antimony, zinc, and bismuth were discovered in the thirteenth and fourteenth century, with platinum's discovery in the 16th century.
The Metals of Antiquity, the metals upon which civilization was based, consist of gold, copper, silver, lead, tin, smelted iron, and mercury. But there weren't a lot of those metals and the first two metals to be used widely were gold and copper. Gold is mostly found as jewelry, and they are hardly ever pure gold; nearly all contain silver. Because of this, the metal electrum was formed- an alloy of gold and silver. Back in the Stone Age man learned that gold could be formed into sheets and wires easily. Gold can be found all over the world and is found in two types of deposits, lode deposits (found in solid rock and mined) and placer deposits (found in stream beds). The scarcity of gold and its value, due to mankind's love of its color, have lead to gold being one of the more important metals of daily life.
The first tool, implements, and weapons were made from copper. The symbol for copper, Cu, comes from the Latin cuprum, meaning from the island of Cyprus. A long time ago, copper was hammered into small pieces to make stones. But once hammered, they became brittle and weak. By 3600 BC, the first copper smelted artifacts were found in the Nile Valley, along with copper rings, bracelets, and chisels. By 3000 BC weapons and tools could be found in the hands of the wealthy, but it would be yet another 500 years until peasants could own some of their own. Although the first smelted copper was found in the Nile Valley, it is widely believed that the Gerzeans brought it to Egypt. Copper is a reddish color and it is malleable, ductile, and a good conductor of electricity and heat.
Smelted copper was rarely pure, in fact, by 2500 BC the Sumerians noticed that my mixing different ores together, there would be a different type of copper. This new discovery flowed more easily than copper and was stronger after forming- it contained 11% tin and 89% copper, and eventually became the discovery of bronze. Native Tin is not found in nature. The first tin findings were discovered in around 2000 BC, but it was not until 1800 BC that tin smelting became in Western Asia. Tin was first thought to be a form of charcoal, used rarely on its own and was most commonly combined with copper to form bronze. By 1400 BC, bronze was the most used metal alloy. Now some more on tin, it is highly malleable and ductile. It has two allotropic forms, which lead to tin kind of having its own disease. Sn is the symbol for tin, from the word stannum.
The ancient Egyptians used lead sulfide (Galena) as eye paint. It kind of looks metallic and attracted the attention of early metalworkers. It is harder than gold, softer than copper, and it is the most chemically active of all of the noble metals. Because of its softness, pure silver was used for ornaments, jewelry and as a measure of wealth. Silver's symbol, Ag, is from the Latin argentums.
Dating back to 1500 and 1600 BC, mercury has been found in tombs and was widely used because of its ability to dissolve silver and gold, also known as amalgamation. Through the history, metals, stones and minerals are considered precious even in the first civilization. These materials are often used not only as an ornament but also as proof of human's history.
