What made the ancient people think that. ores have metal in them...and ...?

Question

....that ...They can extract metal from ore. Metallurgical procedure are not very easy. What helped them distinguish that some minerals are ore and some are stones.
We find ores deep down the surface. By no means ancient people could have dug so deep. How did they got knowledge that iron can be extracted from hematite. Similarly copper, bronze from their ores etc.etc.
Were they damm genius gifted with mind blowing intuitive powers or god appeared in there dreams saying ' O man goeth there, diggeth it, melteth it in absence of air and geteth iron'.
How did it popped in their brain that ores can give them metal.
Thank you for your time.

Answer 1

I think it is much more likely that this was discovered by accident. People built fires to cook, keep warm, and keep animals away. Every now and then, they would accidently create the right conditions to "reduce" ores to metallic form in the fire. It is not true that ores only occur deep in the earth. If ores are found inside the earth, chances are pretty good that somewhere they occur on the surface as well. In the stone age, the best material people had to work with was stone and people travelled long distances to find stone with particular characteristics. If a stone started to change in a fire, people would naturally be very curious about what was going on. If a stone produced even a little bit metal after spending days or weeks or months in someone's cooking fire, it would be a big thing. How do you think people discovered that coal burns?

Answer 2

No one knows exactly how the ancients discovered this, but everything was explored and tested driven by survival instincts. Wood was used and fashioned into homes and weapons, plants were tried (and some died trying them), animals, rocks, roots, you name it. And if somebody discovered something, that knowledge would be shared or built upon.

For example, the discovery copper was around 9000 B.C. in the Middle East. Present-day Israel, Egypt and Jordan were some of the earliest locations of copper smelting sites, dating back to about 4500 B.C. Copper artifacts such as hammers and axes were found at these sites.

Metallurgical processes with copper alloys, most notably brass and bronze, were performed soon after an area's discovery of pure copper. The Egyptians had *found* that adding tin to bronze makes casting easier, and they realized that an alloyed object is harder than copper alone.

Tempering of copper was most likely discovered by accident, as was its malleability.

Answer 3

Meteorites burn off much of the non metal. These were probably some of the first discoveries, because they fall on the top of the earth (but mostly in the ocean).

Such is the case with the mythical sword Excalibur. Oak actually will make a hot enough fire to process crude iron. It;s probably the same trial and error system that led to agriculture.

Of course, you could always consider the pseudo-science of ancient astronaut...Carl Sagan gave this as a possibility.