Nobody knows who discovered copper. In Iraq, archaeologists made a discovery of a copper pendant aging over 10,000 years. Unlike other metals, this metal is usually found in its natural state, not in the form of ores or compounds. Thus human believe copper was the first metal being used, probably used with meteoritic iron or gold.
The copper is thought to be a prehistoric metal. Evidence was found that was used by ancient Americans during 1000 B. C. Those days, copper was mainly used in the pure form. The American Indians in the Upper Peninsula of America used copper as the sources for spear tips, trinkets and jewelry.
Discovery
According to the reference, there were two oldest civilizations that used the copper. They were Chaldea and Sumer. Similar to other founders of copper in other places, they made use copper to produce weapons. Sumerian craftsmen also made beautiful sculptures from copper and mounted them on the wall. One of the examples is the Imdugud Relief. It was dated 3100 B. C. and showed an eagle headed a lion and holding a stag in its claw.
Others claimed that copper was originally found and used by the Romans in Cyprus for almost 11, 000 years. They were the ones who discovered copper and named it after the island, which had abundance of copper resources. The name copper was originally cuprum, the Latin word named by the Romans. They discovered the many faceted abilities of the copper. The main usage of copper metal was for weaponry including spears, axes, knives and other household items like cutlery and pots.
There were other cultures that were listed to discover copper and using the metal for numerous stuffs. The Middle East was believed to be one of the earliest discoverers of copper. They primarily used copper on large scales to produce copper alloy by combining it with other metals. Among the examples were bronze and brass. The bronze and brass have better properties including being much more durable and more resistance towards damage compared to pure copper metal.
Copper and alloys were also abundantly used in the Far East and Turkey as early as 5000 B. C. The technology used in Asia was pretty similar to the one used in Mediterranean and America. However in the process of mining to smelting, they differ a little.
The prehistoric Hindus had used copper for other products like coins, cutleries, and lamps instead of weapons. There was also discovery of little copper tubes in the burial grounds under Egyptian pyramids.
To conclude this, one can never have precise statements about who discovered copper as nobody has the privileged to be accredited for copper discovery. It was basically found in all corners of the world at different times. Different cultures have interesting evolution of the metal into their respective fields.
The Discovery of Copper
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