2006-11-22 08:37:25 · 3 answers · asked by madelinezimmerman 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
Silver (from Anglo-Saxon seolfor, compare Old High German silabar; Ag is from the Latin argentum) has been known since ancient times. It is mentioned in the book of Genesis, and slag heaps found in Asia Minor and on the islands of the Aegean Sea indicate that silver was being separated from lead as early as the 4th millennium BC. So noone really knows.
2006-11-22 08:41:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No one knows. It was known in 3000 bce (B.C., before the current era). I quote from my source:
"Silver, (because) it rarely occurs uncombined, did not come into use as early as did gold. In Egypt, between the 30th and 15th centuries before Christ, it was rarer and more costly than gold. It must have been used as a medium of exchange long before it was coined, for it is related in Genesis that when Abraham purchased a burial place for Sarah, he weighed out the silver in the presences of witnesses. Jeremiah, too, weighed out the silver when he purchased the family inheritance, Hanameel's field.
2006-11-22 16:55:47 · answer #2 · answered by steve_geo1 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't think we know, because people have been using it for over 5000 years.
2006-11-22 16:44:07 · answer #3 · answered by Sarai 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋