How did people from ancient times know about metals and how to exrtact them from ore, how would they know?

Question

How would they know that ore produced metal, iron for instance is not recognisable in natural state except pyrites and thats brittle not workable. How would they know about combining metals to produce bronze a more durable metal. what were the circumstances that led, do you think, to the idea of creating metal from rocks and crystaline substances, native copper is rare if not absent in the uk.Do yo think that the ancients had more intellect than we give them creadence for

Answer 1

What they did was put some ore in fire and noticed that something was leaking out of it... and then when the fire quit it hardened and they saw that they could use it for things, so they figured out what it was, melted it down and learned to smith it. Most discoveries are by accident so thus metal.

Answer 2

I guess they found out by experimentation, and it happened quite slowly, e.g. for a long time people were using bronze tools and weapons, then someone found out that iron was better, I think the Hittites had this knowledge for a long time (hundreds of years) before the information spread elsewhere. Ancient people who were modern human beings weren't less intelligent, but they had less access to information like we do, and there would always be people who were willing to experiment. Some of their results were probably lucky accidents too.

Answer 3

The likelihood is that early humans came across metal in the ground probably by accident. they may have thought it had a spiritual content and started making amulets and such. Eventually tools were made and then weapons. By 4,000 BC the science of metallurgy had developed. and the knowledge spread through the "civilized world quickly.

Answer 4

Some people who everyone else thought was mad, tried out different things until they came up with the ways of doing things. The ancients must have had the same capacity for intelligence as we have or Stonehenge and the Pyramids would never have been built.

Answer 5

bronse age men had the skills and the metals because they traded with the older civilizations and conquered each other copper was commonly used by the egyptiians and the gaels or celtic tribes came west from siberia and brought the bronse and chariots and archery to europe as the took the land from the small dark tribes even into greece and to the bosphorus to ireland they spread the metal working and killed the stone axe and copper users

Answer 6

same way that an infinite amount of monkeys could type shakespeare. Nice to know eh?

Answer 7

same Way people no how to use computers
we are as silly as we can be sometimes an intelligent race