Metals used in ancient time
5 metals
Gold
Gold articles are found extensively in antiquity mainly as jewelry e.g. Bracelets, rings etc. Early gold artifacts are rarely pure and most contain significant silver contents. This led to the ancients naming another metal - electrum, which was an alloy of gold and silver, pale yellow and similar in color to amber.
Bronze
Copper was the first metal to be smelted and used in abundance, but the real metallurgical innovation was the discovery of copper alloys. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Even though zinc was not known as a metal in ancient times, zinc and copper minerals often occur together.
Iron
Iron requires a much higher temperature to smelt than copper and seems to have been discovered by the Hittites of present-day central Turkey. The myth is that the Hittites overwhelmed their neighbors because of their superior iron weapons. The reality is that ancient iron was far too variable in quality to be clearly superior to bronze.
Lead
Lead is not found free in nature but Galena (lead sulfide) was used as an eye paint by the ancient Egyptians. Galena has a very metallic looking appearance and was, therefore, likely to attract the attention of early metalworkers.
Silver
Although silver was found freely in nature, its occurrence was rare. Silver is the most chemically active of the noble metals, is harder than gold but softer than copper. It ranks second in ductility and malleability to gold