As you know, the main material from which primitive people made tools was stone. It is not for nothing that the hundreds of thousands of years that passed between the appearance of man on earth and the emergence of the first civilizations are called the Stone Age. But in 5-6 millennia BC. e. people discovered metal.
Most likely, at first people treated metal in the same way as stone. He found, for example, copper nuggets and tried to process them in exactly the same way as stone, that is, by trimming, grinding, pressing flakes, etc. But the difference between stone and copper very quickly became clear. Perhaps, initially, people decided that metal nuggets would be of no use, especially since copper was quite soft, and the tools that were made from it quickly failed. Who came up with the idea of smelting copper? Now we will never know the answer to this question. Most likely, everything happened by accident. A frustrated man threw a pebble, which seemed unsuitable for making an ax or arrowhead, into the fire, and then was surprised to notice that the pebble spread into a shiny puddle, and after the fire burned out, it froze. Then all it took was a little thought - and the idea of melting was discovered. On the territory of modern Serbia, a copper ax was found, created 5,500 years before the birth of Christ.
True, copper, of course, was inferior in many characteristics even to stone. As mentioned above, copper is too soft a metal. Its main advantage was its fusibility, which made it possible to make a wide variety of objects from copper, but in terms of strength and sharpness it left much to be desired. Of course, before the discovery, for example, of Zlatoust steel (Article “Russian damask steel from Zlatoust”), several more millennia had to pass. After all, technologies were created gradually, at first - with uncertain, timid steps, through trial and countless errors. Copper was soon replaced by bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. True, tin, unlike copper, is not found everywhere. It was not for nothing that in ancient times Britain was called the “Tin Islands” - many peoples sent trading expeditions there for tin.
Copper and bronze became the basis of ancient Greek civilization. In the Iliad and Odyssey we constantly read that the Greeks and Trojans were dressed in copper and bronze armor and used bronze weapons. Yes, in ancient times metallurgy largely served the military. They often plowed the land the old fashioned way, with a wooden plow, and, for example, drains could be made of wood or clay, but the soldiers went to the battlefield in strong metal armor. However, bronze as a material for weapons had one serious drawback: it was too heavy. Therefore, over time, man learned to smelt and process steel.
Iron was known back in the days when the Bronze Age was going on on Earth. However, raw iron, obtained as a result of processing at a low temperature, was too soft. Meteorite iron was more popular, but it was very rare and could only be found by chance. However, meteorite iron weapons were expensive and it was very prestigious to have them. The Egyptians called daggers forged from meteorites that fell from the sky Heavenly.
It is generally accepted that iron processing became widespread among the Hittites who lived in the Middle East. They are the ones around 1200 BC. e. learned how to smelt real steel. For a time, the Middle Eastern powers became incredibly powerful, the Hittites challenged Rome itself, and the Philistines, mentioned in the Bible, controlled vast territories in the modern Arabian Peninsula. But soon their technological advantage faded away, because steel smelting technology, as it turned out, was not so difficult to borrow. The main problem was the creation of forges in which it was possible to reach the temperature at which iron turned into steel. When the surrounding peoples learned to build such smelting furnaces, steel production began literally throughout Europe. Of course, a lot depended on the raw materials. After all, people only relatively recently learned to enrich raw materials with additional substances that impart new properties to steel. For example, the Romans mocked the Celts because many Celtic tribes had such poor steel that their swords would bend in battle and the warriors would have to run to the back row to straighten the blade. But the Romans admired the products of gunsmiths from India. And some Celtic tribes had steel that was not inferior to the famous Damascus. (Article “Damascus steel: myths and reality”)
But, in any case, humanity entered the Iron Age, and it could no longer be stopped. Even the widest spread of plastics that occurred in the twentieth century could not displace metal from most spheres of human activity.
We did not choose the topic “Metals in Antiquity” by chance. Now we cannot imagine our life without metals. We use metals and their alloys as one of the main construction materials of modern civilization. This is determined primarily by their high strength, uniformity and impermeability to liquids and gases. In addition, by changing the alloy formulation, it is possible to change their properties within a very wide range.
Metals are used both as good conductors of electricity (copper, aluminum) and as materials with increased resistance for resistors and electric heating elements (nichrome, etc.).
Metals and their alloys are widely used for the manufacture of tools (their working parts). These are mainly tool steels and hard alloys. Diamond, boron nitride, and ceramics are also used as tool materials.
The number 7 is often found in various mystical teachings and even just in everyday life: 7 colors of the rainbow, 7 ancient metals, 7 planets, 7 days of the week, 7 notes.
Let us dwell on the 7 metals of antiquity - copper, silver, gold, tin, lead, mercury, iron, as well as some alloys based on them.
Ancient philosophers identified various metals with the bones of deities. In particular, the Egyptians viewed iron as the bones of Mars, and the magnet as the bones of Horus. Lead, in their opinion, was the skeleton of Saturn, and copper, accordingly, of Venus. Ancient philosophers attributed mercury to the skeleton of Mercury, gold to the Sun, silver to the Moon, antimony to the Earth.
Since ancient times, man has believed that the planets influence the functions of the human body.
It was believed that with the help of metals it was possible to combat the harmful influences of stars.
Since ancient times, healers have used metals. But their favorite treatment was still herbs. Treatment with powdered minerals taken orally began to be used only in the Middle Ages. The more common use of metals in ancient times, in this regard, was to wear or use them as talismans, along with stone talismans. Eliphas Levi, describing the wizard in his robes, says that:
“On Sunday (the day of the Sun) he held in his hands a golden staff, decorated with a ruby or chrysolite; on Monday (the day of the Moon) he wore three threads - pearls, crystal and selenite; on Tuesday (the day of Mars) he had a steel rod and a ring of the same metal; on Wednesday (the day of Mercury) he wore a necklace of pearls or glass beads containing mercury and a ring of agate; on Thursday (Jupiter's day) he had a rubber wand and a ring with an emerald or sapphire; on Friday (the day of Venus) he had a copper staff, a turquoise ring and a crown with beryls; on Saturday (the day of Saturn) he had a rod of onyx, as well as a ring of this stone, and a chain of tin around his neck.”
When astrology developed, the seven then known metals began to be compared with the seven planets, which symbolized the connection between metals and celestial bodies and the celestial origin of metals.
Each metal acted as an intermediary between the gods and earthly phenomena, so they were associated with the signs of the planets: gold - with the Sun, silver - with the Moon, copper - with Venus, iron - with Mars, lead - with Saturn, tin - with Jupiter and mercury - with Mercury. This comparison became common more than 2000 years ago and is constantly found in literature until the 19th century.
It is obvious that man first became acquainted with those metals that were found in nature in a native state. This is gold, silver, copper, meteorite iron. With other metals - as he learned to obtain them from compounds by reduction smelting.
While working on the project, we learned that people began to use the first metal tools, after stone ones, several thousand years before our era. They were made from native copper and, therefore, were copper. Native copper is found quite often in nature. The ancient man first carried out the processing of copper nuggets with the help of stones (i.e., in fact, he used cold forging of metals to produce products from them). Why was this possible? We found the answer to this question. Copper is a fairly soft metal.
In the theoretical part of the project “Ancient Metals” we offer answers to other questions that we had during the course of our work:
Why was copper the first metal that people began to use in their lives?
(we have already answered this, see above)
Why couldn’t copper completely replace stone tools? In what historical past did the “metal ages” appear - copper, bronze and iron? Why did the Bronze Age replace the Copper Age, and was it replaced by the Iron Age? What new properties of metals and alloys did man discover for himself, which gave him the opportunity to make more advanced tools, weapons, and household items? Why did people use talismans? How and what antique objects did people use in their daily life? What benefit or harm could be discussed when they tried to heal with “ancient metals”? How were metals obtained or mined in ancient times? What is the origin of the name of ancient metals?
In the practical part of our work, we decided to investigate:
What properties of metals or alloys of antique objects ensured their preservation to this day?
Why do products have different degrees of preservation?
In order to solve practical problems, we: 1) conducted a chemical experiment to determine the chemical activity of ancient metals and their chemical resistance to certain chemical and atmospheric influences; 2) made appropriate conclusions.
2. 1 COPPER. COPPER AGE
The symbol Cu comes from the Latin cyproum (later, Cuprum), since Cyprus was the site of the copper mines of the ancient Romans.
Pure copper is a viscous, viscous metal of light pink color, easily rolled into thin sheets. It conducts heat and electricity very well, second only to silver in this regard. In dry air, copper remains almost unchanged, since the thin film of oxides formed on its surface gives the copper a darker color and also serves as good protection against further oxidation. But in the presence of moisture and carbon dioxide, the copper surface becomes covered with a greenish coating of copper hydroxycarbonate - (CuOH)2CO3.
Copper is widely used in industry due to its high thermal conductivity, high electrical conductivity, malleability, good casting properties, high tensile strength, chemical resistance
Copper is the first metal that people first began to use in ancient times several thousand years BC. The first copper tools were made from native copper, which is found quite often in nature, since copper is a low-active metal. The largest copper nugget was found in the United States; it weighed 420 tons.
But due to the fact that copper is a soft metal, copper in ancient times could not completely replace stone tools. Only when man learned to smelt copper and invented bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) did metal replace stone.
The widespread use of copper began in the 4th millennium BC. e.
It is believed that copper began to be used around 5000 BC. e. Copper is rarely found in nature as a metal. The first metal tools were made from copper nuggets, possibly with the help of stone axes. The Indians who lived on its shores of the lake. Upper (North America), where there is very pure native copper, methods of cold processing were known before the time of Columbus.
The Copper Age is a transitional era between the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. It is characterized by the appearance of the first copper tools with the widespread use of stone ones. For the southern regions of the Volga region 4 thousand BC. e. , for forest - 3 thousand BC. e. In the forest regions of the Volga region, the main industry remains fishing and hunting; in the south, specialized driven hunting for horses is replaced by their breeding and agriculture. Around 3500 BC e. In the Middle East, they learned to extract copper from ores; it was obtained by reducing coal. There were copper mines in Ancient Egypt. It is known that the blocks for the famous Cheops pyramid were processed with a copper tool.
In Southern Mesopotamia, the oldest metal object was a spearhead found in Ur, in layers dating back to the 4th millennium BC. e. Chemical analysis found that it contains 99.69% Cu, 0.16% As, 0.12% Zn and 0.01% Fe. In the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, metal began to be used in the first half of the 4th millennium BC. e. It was copper, which was obtained by metallurgical smelting of oxidized copper ores, sometimes together with arsenic minerals.
Even later, metal began to be used in Central Europe, at least not earlier than the 3rd millennium BC. e. A flat copper hatchet of primitive shape, found at Horn Lefantovce in western Slovakia, dates back to approximately the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e. According to spectral analysis, the hatchet is made of copper containing impurities of arsenic (0.10%), antimony (0.35%) and small amounts of other metals, which suggests that the copper from which the hatchet was made was not of native origin , or most likely, it was obtained by the reduction smelting of malachite ores.
The ancestors of the ancient Slavs, who lived in the Don basin and the Dnieper region, used copper to make weapons, jewelry and household items. The Russian word “copper,” according to some researchers, comes from the word “mida,” which among the ancient tribes that inhabited Eastern Europe meant metal in general.
HEALING PROPERTIES OF COPPER
The healing properties of copper have been known for a very long time. The ancients believed that the healing effect of copper was associated with its analgesic, antipyretic, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Avicenna and Galen also described copper as a medicine, and Aristotle, pointing to the general strengthening effect of copper on the body, preferred to fall asleep with a copper ball in his hand. Queen Cleopatra wore the finest copper bracelets, preferring them to gold and silver, knowing medicine and alchemy well. In copper armor, ancient warriors were less tired, and their wounds festered less and healed faster. The ability of copper to positively influence “male strength” was noticed and widely used in the Ancient world.
Nomadic peoples used copper utensils in everyday life, which protected them from infectious diseases, and the gypsies wore a copper hoop on their heads for the same purposes. Historical fact: the epidemic of cholera and plague bypassed people working with copper or living near copper mines. It is no coincidence that door handles in hospitals used to be made of copper in order to prevent the transmission of infection from infectious patients to healthy people.
As a child, on the advice of my grandmother, applying a copper penny to the bump, we reduced pain and inflammation, although the 5-kopeck coin issued in Soviet times had a low copper content.
Nowadays, the use of copper products is widespread. In Central Asia they wear copper items and practically do not suffer from rheumatism. In Egypt and Syria, even children wear copper items. In France, hearing disorders are treated with copper. In the United States, copper bracelets are worn as remedies for arthritis. In Chinese medicine, copper disks are applied to active points. In Nepal, copper is considered a sacred metal.
2. 2 Bronze. Bronze Age
By 3000 BC e. In India, Mesopotamia and Greece, tin was added to copper to smelt harder bronze. The discovery of bronze may have happened by accident, but its advantages over pure copper quickly brought this alloy to first place.
This is how the “Bronze Age” began.
The Bronze Age is characterized by the spread of bronze metallurgy, bronze tools and weapons in the Middle East, China, South America, etc.
The word "bronze" sounds almost the same in many European languages. Its origin is associated with the name of a small Italian port on the Adriatic Sea - Brindisi. It was through this port that bronze was delivered to Europe in ancient times, and in ancient Rome this alloy was called “es Brindisi” - copper from Brindisi.
The Assyrians, Egyptians, Hindus and other peoples of antiquity had bronze products. However, ancient craftsmen learned to cast solid bronze statues no earlier than the 5th century. BC e. Around 290 BC e. Chares created the Colossus of Rhodes in honor of the sun god Helios. It was 32 m high and stood above the entrance to the inner harbor of the ancient port of the island of Rhodes in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is a giant bronze statue.
Why did the Copper Age give way to the Bronze Age?
Bronze has greater strength and wear resistance than copper; good ductility, corrosion resistance, good casting properties
Bronze and brass in the modern world
According to the chemical composition, brass is distinguished between simple and complex, and according to its structure - single-phase and two-phase. Plain brass is alloyed with one component: zinc.
Brasses with a lower zinc content (tompak and semi-tompak) are inferior to L68 and L70 brasses in ductility, but superior to them in electrical and thermal conductivity.
Tin bronzes
Bronzes are superior to brass in strength and resistance to corrosion (especially in seawater).
Tin bronzes have high casting properties. A disadvantage of tin bronze castings is their significant microporosity. Therefore, for work at elevated pressures, aluminum bronzes are used.
Due to the high cost of tin, bronzes are more often used, in which part of the tin is replaced with zinc (or lead).
Aluminum bronzes
These bronzes are increasingly replacing brass and tin bronzes.
They are used for sheets and stamping with significant deformation. They are stronger and more elastic, do not form porosity, which ensures denser castings. Casting properties are improved by introducing small amounts of phosphorus into these bronzes. All aluminum bronzes, like tin bronzes, are well resistant to corrosion in sea water and in a humid tropical atmosphere, so they are used in shipbuilding, aviation, etc. In the form of tapes, sheets, wires, they are used for elastic elements, in particular for current-carrying springs.
Silicon bronzes
These bronzes are used for fittings and pipes operating in alkaline (including waste) environments.
Beryllium bronzes
Beryllium bronzes combine very high strength (up to 120 kgf/mm2) and corrosion resistance with increased electrical conductivity. However, due to the high cost of beryllium, these bronzes are used only for particularly critical cases in small-section products in the form of tapes, wire for springs, membranes, bellows and contacts in electrical machines, apparatus and devices.
2. 3 Gold. Silver
Along with copper nuggets, gold and silver nuggets also attracted human attention in the New Stone Age. People have been mining gold since time immemorial. Humanity encountered gold already in the 5th millennium BC. e. in the Neolithic era due to its distribution in native form. According to archaeologists, systematic mining began in the Middle East, from where gold jewelry was supplied, in particular, to Egypt. It was in Egypt, in the tomb of Queen Zer and one of the queens Pu - Abi Ur in the Sumerian civilization, that the first gold jewelry was found, dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. e.
In ancient times, the main centers of precious metal mining were Upper Egypt, Nubia, Spain, Colchis (Caucasus); There is information about production in Central and South America and Asia (India, Altai, Kazakhstan, China). In Russia, gold was mined already in the 2nd – 3rd millennium BC. e.
Metals were extracted from placers by washing sand on the skins of animals with trimmed hair (to catch grains of gold), as well as using primitive gutters, trays and ladles. Metals were extracted from ores by heating the rock until it cracked, followed by crushing the blocks in stone mortars, grinding with millstones, and washing. Separation by size was carried out on sieves. In Ancient Egypt, there was a known method of separating gold and silver alloys with acids, separating gold and silver from a lead alloy by cupellation, extracting gold by amalgamating with mercury, or collecting particles using a fatty surface (Ancient Greece). Cupellation was carried out in clay crucibles, to which lead, table salt, tin and bran were added.
In the XI-VI centuries BC. e. silver was mined in Spain in the valleys of the Tagus, Duero, Minho and Guadyaro rivers. In the VI-IV centuries BC. e. The development of primary and placer gold deposits began in Transylvania and the Western Carpathians.
Gold mining in the Middle Ages was carried out by grinding gold ore into flour. It was mixed in special barrels with mercury at the bottom. The mercury wetted and partially dissolved the gold to form an amalgam (amalgamation). It was separated from the rest of the rock and decomposed by heating. At the same time, the mercury evaporated, and the gold remained in the distillation apparatus
In modern times, gold began to be extracted by cyanidation of ores,
Geochemistry of gold
Gold is characterized by its native form. Among its other forms, it is worth noting electrum, an alloy of gold and silver, which has a greenish tint and is relatively easily destroyed when transferred by water. In rocks, gold is usually dispersed at the atomic level. In deposits it is often enclosed in sulfides and arsenides.
Gold in everyday life
Gold, along with copper, was one of the first metals used by man in everyday life
The high ductility of gold and silver was widely used, especially in Egypt, in the form of sheet metal - foil, for coating copper and even wood products. Coating copper products with gold saved them from corrosion
Amulet "Sun God". The cult of the Sun is found in all ancient religions. Its energy is associated with life and prosperity. Life-giving rays help the growth of fruits that feed the whole world. Among the Celts, this powerful luminary was associated with the male fertilizing symbol. The Sun talisman helps you feel the fullness of life, gain self-confidence and restore mental strength. Protects against life's adversities, physical and spiritual weakness.
The high ductility of gold and silver was widely used, especially in Egypt, in the form of sheet metal - foil, for coating copper and even wood products. Coating copper products with gold saved them from corrosion.
Jewelry items were made from silver - beads, rings, rings, clothing accessories, vases, vessels, amulets, etc.
Already in modern times, gold and silver were used as money. The main currency metal to this day is gold.
Silver, after market saturation, actually lost this function.
Gold is the most important element of the modern global financial system, since this metal is not subject to corrosion, has many areas of technical application, and its reserves are small. Gold was practically not lost during historical cataclysms, but was only accumulated and melted down. Currently, global bank gold reserves are estimated at 32 thousand tons
Pure gold is a soft, ductile yellow metal. Some gold products, such as coins, get a reddish hue from admixtures of other metals, in particular copper.
The most important characteristic of jewelry is its fineness, which characterizes the gold content in it. The composition of such alloys is expressed by breakdown, which indicates the number of parts by weight of gold in 1000 parts of the alloy (in Russian practice). The purity of chemically pure gold corresponds to 999.9 purity; it is also called “bank” gold, since bars are made from such gold.
In Russia, it is considered to be the beginning of gold mining on May 21 (June 1), 1745, when Erofey Markov, who found gold in the Urals, announced his discovery in the Office of the Main Board of the factories in Yekaterinburg. Throughout history, humanity has mined about 140 thousand tons of gold.
Silver is an element of a side subgroup of the first group, the fifth period of D. I. Mendeleev’s Periodic Table of Chemical Elements, with atomic number 47. Denoted by the symbol Ag (lat. Argentum)
Discovery of silver. Production
The Phoenicians discovered deposits of silver (silver ores) in Spain, Armenia, Sardinia and Cyprus. Silver from silver ores was combined with arsenic, sulfur, chlorine, and also in the form of native silver. Native metal, of course, became known before they learned to extract it from compounds. Native silver is sometimes found in the form of very large masses: the largest nugget of silver is considered to be a nugget that weighed 13.5 tons. Silver is also found in meteorites and is found in sea water. Silver is rarely found in the form of nuggets. This fact, as well as its less noticeable color (silver nuggets are usually coated with a black sulfide coating) led to the later discovery of native silver by man. This explained the great rarity and great value of silver at first. But then the second discovery of silver occurred. By refining gold with molten lead, in some cases, instead of a brighter metal than natural gold, a duller metal was obtained. But there was more of it than the original metal that they wanted to clean. This pale gold came into use from the third millennium BC. The Greeks called it electron, the Romans called it electrum, and the Egyptians called it asem. Currently, the term electrum can be used to refer to an alloy of silver and gold. These alloys of gold and silver have long been considered a special metal. In ancient Egypt, where silver was brought from Syria, it was used to make jewelry and mint coins. This metal came to Europe later (approximately 1000 BC) and was used for the same purposes. It was assumed that silver was a product of the transformation of metals on the way to their “transmutation” into gold. 2500 BC in Ancient Egypt they wore jewelry and minted coins from silver, believing that it was more valuable than gold. In the 10th century it was shown that there was an analogy between silver and copper, and copper was seen as silver colored red. In 1250, Vincent Beauvais suggested that silver was formed from mercury under the action of sulfur. In the Middle Ages, “kobald” was the name for ores that were used to produce metal with properties different from the already known silver. It was later shown that these minerals were used to produce a silver-cobalt alloy, and the difference in properties was determined by the presence of cobalt. In the 16th century Paracelsus obtained silver chloride from the elements, and Boyle determined its composition. Scheele studied the effect of light on silver chloride, and the discovery of the photograph attracted attention to other silver halides. In 1663, Glaser proposed silver nitrate as a cauterizing agent. Since the end of the 19th century. complex silver cyanides are used in electroforming. It is used in the minting of coins, awards - orders and medals.
Silver halides and silver nitrate are used in photography because they have high photosensitivity.
Due to the highest electrical conductivity and oxidation resistance, it is used: in electrical engineering and electronics as a coating for critical contacts; in microwave technology as a coating of the inner surface of waveguides.
Used as a coating for highly reflective mirrors (conventional mirrors use aluminum).
Often used as a catalyst in oxidation reactions, for example in the production of formaldehyde from methanol.
Used as a disinfectant, mainly for water disinfection. Some time ago, a solution of protargol and collargol, which were colloidal silver, was used to treat colds.
One of the important areas of use of silver was alchemy, which is closely related to medicine. Already 3 thousand years BC. e. In China, Persia and Egypt, the healing properties of native silver were known. The ancient Egyptians, for example, applied a silver plate to wounds to ensure rapid healing. The ability of this metal to keep water suitable for drinking for a long time has also been known since ancient times. For example, the Persian king Cyrus transported water only in silver vessels during military campaigns. The famous medieval physician Paracelsus treated some diseases with the “moon” stone silver nitrate (lapis). This remedy is still used in medicine today.
The development of pharmacology and chemistry, the emergence of many new natural and synthetic dosage forms have not diminished the attention of modern doctors to this metal. Nowadays, it continues to be widely used in Indian pharmacology (for the production of traditional Aurvedic medicines in India). Ayurveda is an ancient method of disease diagnosis and treatment, little known outside India. More than 500 million people in India take such drugs, so it is clear that the consumption of silver in the country's pharmacology is very high. More recently, modern studies of body cells for silver content have led to the conclusion that it is elevated in brain cells. Thus, it was concluded that silver is a metal necessary for the functioning of the human body and that the medicinal properties of silver, discovered five thousand years ago, have not lost their relevance today.
Finely crushed silver is widely used for water disinfection. Water infused with silver powder (as a rule, silver-plated sand is used) or filtered through such sand is almost completely disinfected. Silver in the form of ions actively interacts with various other ions and molecules. Small concentrations are useful, since silver destroys many pathogenic bacteria. It has also been established that silver ions in small concentrations help increase the body’s overall resistance to infectious diseases. Developing this direction of use, in addition to toothpastes, security pencils, ceramic tiles coated with silver, Japan even began to produce incense, which contains ionized silver and, when burned, releases ions that kill bacteria. The effect of such drugs as protargol, collargol, etc., which are colloidal forms of silver and help to cure purulent eye lesions, is based on this property of silver.
2. 4 Iron. Iron Age
Iron is an element of the side subgroup of the eighth group of the fourth period of the periodic system of chemical elements of D.I. Mendeleev, atomic number 26. Denoted by the symbol Fe (Latin Ferrum) A simple substance is iron - a malleable metal of silver-white color with high chemical reactivity: iron quickly corrodes at high temperatures or high humidity in the air. Iron burns in pure oxygen, and in a finely dispersed state it spontaneously ignites in air. Iron has a special property - magnetism.
In nature, iron is rarely found in its pure form. Most often it is found in iron-nickel meteorites. In terms of prevalence in the earth's crust, iron ranks 4th after O, Si, Al (4.65%). Iron is also believed to make up most of the earth's core.
Iron in antiquity
The first iron tools found in the Carpatho-Danube-Pontic region, which dates back to the 12th century BC. e.
Iron as a tool material has been known since ancient times; the oldest iron products found during archaeological excavations date back to the 4th millennium BC. e. and belong to the ancient Sumerian and ancient Egyptian civilizations. These are arrowheads and jewelry made of meteorite iron, that is, an alloy of iron and nickel (the content of the latter ranges from 5 to 30%) from which meteorites are made. Apparently, one of the names of iron in the Greek language comes from their celestial origin: “sider” (and in Latin this word means “starry”)
Products made from artificially produced iron have been known since the settlement of Aryan tribes from Europe to Asia and the islands of the Mediterranean Sea (4-3 millennium BC). The oldest known iron tool is a steel chisel found in the masonry of Pharaoh Khufu's pyramid in Egypt (built around 2550 BC).
But the use of iron began much earlier than its production. Sometimes pieces of greyish-black metal were found which, when forged into a dagger or spearhead, produced a weapon stronger and more ductile than bronze and held a sharp edge longer. The difficulty was that this metal was found only by accident. Now we can say that it was meteorite iron. Since iron meteorites are an iron-nickel alloy, it can be assumed that the quality of individual unique daggers, for example, could compete with modern consumer goods. However, the same uniqueness led to the fact that such weapons ended up not on the battlefield, but in the treasury of the next ruler.
Natural metallic iron of unearthly origin - meteorite iron was used at the dawn of the Iron Age. The path of chemical transformation of iron ore required the development of fairly high temperatures. To reduce iron from its oxides with carbon monoxide, which is what happens in the usual metallurgical process, a temperature only slightly above 700 oC is sufficient - even a camp fire gives this temperature. However, the iron obtained in this way is a sintered mass consisting of the metal, its carbides, oxides and silicates; when forged, it crumbles. In order to practically realize the possibilities of the reduction process in order to obtain iron suitable for processing, three conditions were necessary: 1) the introduction of iron oxides into the heating zone under reduction conditions; 2) achieving a temperature at which a metal suitable for mechanical processing is obtained; 3) discovery of the effect of additives - fluxes, which facilitate the separation of impurities in the form of slag, which ensures the production of malleable metal at not too high temperatures.
The first step in the emerging ferrous metallurgy was the production of iron by reducing it from its oxide. The ore was mixed with charcoal and placed in the furnace. At the high temperature created by burning coal, carbon began to combine not only with atmospheric oxygen, but also with that which was associated with iron atoms.
FeO + C = Fe + CO
FeO+CO = Fe + CO2
After the coal burned out, the so-called kritsa remained in the furnace - a lump of substances mixed with reduced iron. The kritsa was then heated again and subjected to forging, beating iron out of the slag. For a long time in iron metallurgy, forging was the main element of the technological process, and it was the last thing connected with giving the product its shape. The material itself was forged.
"Iron Age"
The Iron Age replaced the Bronze Age mainly at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. uh
The Iron Age replaced the Bronze Age mainly at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. This happened for the following reasons: 1) iron is more abundant in nature than copper, tin and lead; 2) its alloys have good ductility and malleability; 3) greater strength than bronze; 4) good resistance to environmental influences; 5) man has mastered the basic method of production (reduction smelting) of iron and its alloys. All this taken together became a prerequisite for replacing the Bronze Age with the Iron Age.
The Iron Age continues to this day.
In fact, iron is usually called its alloys with a low impurity content (up to 0.8%), which retain the softness and ductility of the pure metal. But in practice, alloys of iron and carbon are more often used: steel (up to 2% carbon) and cast iron (more than 2% carbon), as well as stainless steel (alloyed) steel with additions of alloying metals (chrome, manganese, nickel, etc.). The combination of specific properties of iron and its alloys make it “metal No. 1” in importance for humans.
The use of iron gave a powerful stimulus to the development of production and thereby accelerated social development. In the Iron Age, the majority of the peoples of Eurasia experienced the decomposition of the primitive communal system and the transition to a class society.
Progress did not stand still: the first device for obtaining iron from ore was a disposable cheese blower. With a huge number of disadvantages, for a long time this was the only way to obtain metal from ore
A higher stage in the development of ferrous metallurgy was represented by permanent high furnaces called stucco ovens in Europe. It really was a tall stove - with a four-meter pipe to enhance traction. The bellows of the stucco machine were already swinging by several people, and sometimes by a water engine. Stukofen had doors through which the kritsa was removed once a day. Stukofen were invented in India at the beginning of the first millennium BC. At the beginning of our era, they came to China, and in the 7th century, along with “Arabic” numerals, the Arabs borrowed this technology from India. At the end of the 13th century, Stuktofens began to appear in Germany and the Czech Republic (and even before that they were in the south of Spain) and over the next century they spread throughout Europe.
The productivity of the stukofen was incomparably higher than that of a cheese-blowing furnace - it produced up to 250 kg of iron per day, and the melting temperature in it was sufficient to carburize part of the iron to the state of cast iron. However, when the furnace was stopped, stucco cast iron froze at its bottom, mixing with slag, and at that time they could only clean metal from slag by forging, but cast iron did not lend itself to this. He had to be thrown away.
The next stage in the development of metallurgy was the appearance of blast furnaces. They are still used today. By increasing the size, preheating the air and mechanical blasting, in such a furnace all the iron from ore was converted into cast iron, which was melted and periodically released outside. Production became continuous - the furnace worked around the clock and did not cool down. It produced up to one and a half tons of cast iron per day. Distilling cast iron into iron in forges was much easier than beating it out of the kritsa, although forging was still required - but now they were beating slag out of iron, not iron out of slag
Use of iron in ancient times
The very first form of organizing the production of iron products were amateur blacksmiths. Ordinary peasants who, in their free time from cultivating the land, engaged in such a craft. A blacksmith of this type himself found the “ore” (rusty swamp or red sand), burned the coal himself, smelted the iron himself, forged the product himself, and processed the product himself.
The craftsman’s skill at this stage was naturally limited to forging products of the simplest form. His tools consisted of bellows, stone hammers and anvils, and a grindstone. Iron tools were produced using stone ones.
If there were ore deposits convenient for development nearby, then an entire village could be engaged in the production of iron, but this was possible only if there was a stable opportunity for profitable sales of products, which practically could not be the case under barbarism.
If, let’s say, for a tribe of 1000 people there were a dozen iron producers, each of whom would build a couple of cheese-blowing furnaces in a year, then their labors ensured the concentration of iron products of only about 200 grams per capita. And not per year, but in general. This figure, of course, is very approximate, but the fact is that by producing iron in this way, it was never possible to fully cover all the needs for the simplest weapons and the most necessary tools. Axes continued to be made from stone, and nails and plows from wood. Metal armor remained inaccessible even to leaders.
The role of iron in the modern world
The 21st century is the century of polymers, but the era of iron is not yet over.
In the modern world, there are many types of polymers that are superior to iron in lightness, ductility and corrosion resistance, but at the same time are much inferior to iron in strength, so it is too early to talk about iron in the past tense.
Iron played a big role in the development of human society and has not lost its importance to this day. Iron alloys - cast iron, steel - are the basis of modern industry.
CHAPTER III CONCLUSIONS ON THEORETICAL RESEARCH
In our theoretical studies we came to the following conclusions:
Main conclusion
The change in the “metal ages” was associated with the discovery for humans of new metals and alloys with improved qualities compared to previous metals and alloys (and metals that are quite common in nature); mastering methods of their extraction or production, as well as mastering methods of casting and forging products from new metals and alloys. The change of materials for labor and production influenced and influences technical progress in society. The role of chemistry has always been and remains significant.
Conclusions by “century” (confirming the main conclusion)
1. Copper Age. Copper is the first metal that people first began to use in ancient times several thousand years BC (4-3 thousand BC). The total content of copper in the earth's crust is relatively small (0.01 wt%), but it is more often found in the native state than other metals, and copper nuggets reach a significant size.
This, as well as the comparative ease of processing copper, explains the fact that it was used by humans earlier than other metals.
Copper is a soft metal. Therefore, in ancient times, copper could not replace stone tools. Only when man learned to smelt copper and invented bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) did metal replace stone.
The ancients believed that the healing effect of copper was associated with its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. In copper armor, the wounds of ancient warriors festered less and healed faster.
2. The Bronze Age lasted from the end of the 4th to the beginning. 1st millennium BC e. The metallurgy of bronze, bronze tools and weapons spread (Middle East, China, South America, etc.). Bronze is a copper-based alloy (in ancient times it was copper + tin, less often - copper + lead. Bronze had greater strength than copper, good ductility, greater resistance to corrosion, good casting qualities. Therefore, the copper age was replaced by bronze.
3. Iron Age. In very ancient times, iron products were made from meteorite iron, from “heavenly stone”. Meteoric iron was easy to process. Only decorations and simple tools were made from it. Ancient people had no access to smelting iron - obtaining it from compounds. Therefore, the Iron Age in Egypt began only in the 12th century.
BC e. , and in other countries even later - in the beginning. 1st millennium BC e.
The Iron Age began with the spread of iron metallurgy and the manufacture of tools and weapons. In terms of the prevalence of metals in nature, iron ranks second after aluminum. With the advent of the Iron Age, iron in its pure form was practically no longer used. In everyday life, steel or cast iron products (alloys of iron with carbon and other elements) were and are often called iron.
The good ductility and malleability of iron and its alloys, as well as the special strength of products made from them, led to the change from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, which continues to this day.
Iron alloys - cast iron, steel - are the basis of modern industry.
Iron is necessary for the life of organisms. It is part of hemoglobin.
The ancients believed that iron was under the influence of Mars. With the help of a metal talisman made of iron, they tried to heal anemic people: the talisman was supposed to ward off the harmful influence of Mars, its energy, and normalize the iron content in the blood.
4. Gold and silver have also been known to man since ancient times. These metals are characterized by softness, malleability, very good ductility, and ductility. Gold and silver are therefore easily processed. Products made from these metals date back to 5 – 1 thousand BC. e. Beautiful colour,
“magical” shine, high density, lightness, high resistance to atmospheric influences have long been appreciated by man.
But gold and silver are rare metals in nature. Therefore, since ancient times, they were mainly used to make jewelry and household items.
But over time, gold (and, to a lesser extent, silver) became a measure of material values, began to be used as an exchange for goods, and subsequently became a monetary equivalent and, thus, the “king of metals.”
Since ancient times, the healing properties of silver and gold have also been used: the antiseptic properties of silver water; and to treat skin diseases, the properties of silver, gold and copper were used.
CHAPTER III OUR PRACTICAL RESEARCH
3. 1 Chemical experiment
“The relationship of “ancient metals” to certain chemical influences”
To the questions - “what properties of metals or alloys of antiques ensured their preservation to this day?” and “why is the degree of preservation different for different items?” we tried to give an answer by resorting to a chemical experiment.
First, we put forward the following hypotheses: 1 – antique products have survived to this day, because the metals or alloys from which they are made have low chemical activity; 2 - the degree of safety of products depends on: a) the corrosion resistance of materials to environmental influences (corrosion resistance depends, first of all, on the chemical activity of metals and alloys); b) the time of exposure to various factors (including the “chemical factor”) on the product or the age of the product.
We conducted this chemical experiment
Its essence is as follows: we examined the relationship of ancient metals and some of their alloys to such reagents and natural substances as: air oxygen (under normal conditions and temperature influences); wet air; water – distilled, tap, natural; solutions of acids and alkalis.
It is important that all of them are the main destroyers (or the semblance of these destroyers) for metals and alloys in nature. We carried out the appropriate reactions and obtained results confirming the correctness of our assumptions (hypotheses).
Conclusions from practical research
A chemical experiment designed and performed by us showed that
The chemical activity of the metals and alloys under study (in fact, “metals of antiquity”) is low
Corrosion resistance to chemical influences is high.
The results of the experiment are presented in the table
We conclude that these characteristics of materials may be decisive in the fact that antique products have survived to this day
The reaction of metals and alloys to the duration of chemical exposure to laboratory and natural reagents was tested (for 2 months)
The experiment showed: the destruction of metals and alloys increases with time
The experiment also confirmed our assumption that the chemical activity of the materials under study is relatively low; There are still differences in their chemical activity
It would not be an exaggeration to say that metals are present in any sphere of human activity. They are everywhere. Cutlery, many tools, cars, railways - all these are achievements of mankind that were achieved thanks to metals and their alloys. Metals have been used for many thousands of years, and since ancient times those who knew how to handle metal and make various tools from it were valued.
As evidence, I would like to cite one parable that tells about the real importance of persons who “own” metal:
Upon completion of the construction of the Jerusalem Temple, King Solomon decided to glorify the best builders and invited them to the palace. He even gave up his royal throne for the duration of the feast to the best of the best - the one who did especially a lot for the construction of the temple.
When the invitees arrived at the palace, one of them quickly ascended the steps of the golden throne and sat down on it. His action caused amazement to those present.
Who are you and by what right did you take this place? - the angry king asked menacingly.
The stranger turned to the mason and asked him:
Who made your instruments?
Blacksmith - he answered.
The man sitting turned to the carpenter, joiner:
Who made your instruments?
“Blacksmith,” they answered.
And everyone to whom the stranger addressed answered:
Yes, the blacksmith forged our tools with which the temple was built.
Then the stranger said to the king:
I'm a blacksmith. King, you see, none of them could have done their work without the iron tools I made. This place rightfully belongs to me.
Convinced by the blacksmith’s arguments, the king said to those present:
Yes, the blacksmith is right. He deserves the greatest honor among the builders of the temple...
In ancient times The blacksmith's activity was not only metal processing. The work of a blacksmith included the entire chain from ore mining to finished product creation. And this implied the presence of enormous knowledge and skills. Therefore, the profession of a blacksmith has always been held in high esteem. And even one of the Finnish proverbs notes that you are not supposed to speak to a blacksmith on a first-name basis. Blacksmithing knowledge was most often passed on from generation to generation. And in many historical films you can see the blacksmith’s father and children scurrying around the father, wanting to try themselves in business.
Great philosopher of Ancient Rome Titus Lucretius Carus in the 1st century BC wrote:
“Formerly, powerful hands, claws, teeth, stones, fragments of tree branches and flames served as weapons, after the latter became known to people. After that, copper and a type of iron were found. Still, copper came into use before iron. Since it was softer, and much more abundant. The soil was plowed with a copper tool, and the copper brought the battle into confusion, scattering severe wounds everywhere. Cattle and fields were stolen with the help of copper, because everything unarmed, naked, easily obeyed the weapon. Little by little, swords from to forge iron. The sight of weapons made of copper began to arouse contempt in people. At this time, they began to cultivate the land with iron, and in a war with an unknown outcome, they began to equalize their strength."
This scripture clearly shows us the division of all human history into periods: the Stone, Copper and Iron Ages. In the first half of the 19th century, scientists K. Thomsen and E. Vorso added one more item to this list. As a result, we see what many have known since school:
STONE AGE
COPPER AGE
BRONZE AGE
IRON AGE
A time when a person used what was at hand in his activities. Stones, bones, wood and other materials provided by nature were used. Over time, man learned to process these tools. As a result, their beneficial properties improved. The stones were of greatest importance. The person immediately realized how useful they were. If at first the stones were used in their usual form, then gradually people learned to chip them, thereby improving the efficiency of this tool. And after some time, the stones began to be drilled, ground and polished, giving them additional advantages. Without exaggeration, stone has played one of the most important roles in the everyday life of mankind for hundreds of years.
covers approximately the period from IV to III millennium BC. At this time, the active use of copper begins. In the book by R. Malinova and Y. Malin "A Leap into the Past: An Experiment Reveals the Mysteries of Ancient Eras" it is suggested that copper accidentally fell into the hands of a person along with the stones that he used. Since copper and gold are found in nature in native form more often than, for example, silver and especially iron, then the first metals with which man became acquainted were copper and gold. It was from them that our ancestors began to make jewelry and various tools. The first copper products were made using ordinary blows. But these objects were soft and fragile, so they quickly broke and became dull. A lot of time has passed, but our ancestors found out that when exposed to high temperatures, copper begins to melt and turns into a fluid substance that can take any shape. Having got the hang of it, man was able to create really sharp tools suitable for sharpening. And even if the tool broke, nothing prevented it from being melted down into a new object. The first experiments with copper served as the beginning for the development of metallurgy and blacksmithing. Thousands of years later, man began to use not only pure metals, but also metal-containing ores. Scientists still cannot answer the question of how man came to begin extracting metals from ore stones. All you can hear around is speculation. However, this made it possible to increase the productivity of metal products.
Continuing to experiment, our ancestors invented closed oven. And to increase the temperature inside the furnace, they came up with a system for supplying the oxygen necessary for this. Initially it was a natural air flow, but over time it was developed artificial air system. For the same purposes it began to be used charcoal, which has huge calorific value.
At one point, the experiments of our ancestors made it possible to obtain a new metal. An alloy of copper and tin made it possible to create bronze. This marked the beginning of a new era - Bronze Age. According to scientists, bronze became known to mankind in 3500 BC Our ancestors obtained tin by smelting it from stone - cassiterite. Tin its properties are soft and fragile, but in combination with copper, the result is a metal much harder than copper. Having arrived at more advanced knowledge in the field of metallurgy, our ancestors began to make tools from bronze. This made it possible to make another push forward in the development of humanity.
And at some point man began to use iron. Its active use in metallurgy began approximately from 1200 BC e. before 340 AD e. The reasons that led to such a late development of this metal are as follows. Firstly, The melting point of iron is quite high, and it was impossible to achieve such degrees in old metallurgical furnaces. The second reason, and perhaps the most important one, is that iron itself is not such a hard metal. Only when man experimentally reached the “alloy” of iron and carbon did the active use of iron in the manufacture of tools begin, because exactly this connection made it possible to give iron competitive hardness.
The most ancient method of obtaining iron is considered cheese making process. When iron was obtained from ore in small furnaces, created at first in the ground. This method is called cheese-making due to the fact that air was supplied to the furnace through blowing cold “damp” atmospheric air. This process did not allow achieving 
the melting temperature of iron is 1537 degrees, and was kept at the maximum level 1200 degrees, which made it possible to create an atmosphere of iron smelting. After heat treatment, iron was concentrated in dough-like form at the bottom of the oven, forming shout(iron spongy mass with particles of unburned charcoal and slag impurities). From the kritsa, which was extracted in a hot state, it was possible to do something, only after cleaning from toxins and eliminating sponginess. For this purpose, cold and hot forging was carried out, which consisted of periodically calcining the kritsa and forging it. As a result, blanks were created that could be used to create iron products. The whole process, as you noticed, is quite complex and time-consuming, which is why iron began to be used in metallurgy so late. And even today, in the age of high technology, iron processing has changed a lot, but the main thing is that this metal remains the main material in all spheres of human life.
(lat. Ferrum).
Iron can be called the main metal of our time. This chemical element has been very well studied. Nevertheless, scientists do not know when and by whom iron was discovered: it was too long ago. Man began to use iron products at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The Bronze Age was replaced by the Iron Age. Iron metallurgy in Europe and Asia began to develop in the 9th-7th centuries. BC. The first iron that fell into human hands was probably of unearthly origin. More than a thousand meteorites fall to Earth every year, some of them iron, consisting mainly of nickel iron. The largest iron meteorite discovered weighs about 60 tons. It was found in 1920 in southwestern Africa. “Heavenly” iron has one important technological feature: when heated, this metal cannot be forged; only cold meteorite iron can be forged. Weapons made from “heavenly” metal remained extremely rare and precious for many centuries. Iron is a metal of war, but it is also the most important metal for peaceful technology. Scientists believe that the core of the Earth consists of iron, and in general it is one of the most common elements on Earth. On the Moon, iron is found in large quantities in the divalent state and is native. Iron existed in the same form on Earth until its reducing atmosphere was replaced by an oxidizing, oxygen one. Even in ancient times, a remarkable phenomenon was discovered - the magnetic properties of iron, which are explained by the structural features of the electron shell of the iron atom. In ancient times, iron was highly valued. The bulk of iron is found in deposits that can be developed industrially. In terms of reserves in the earth's crust, iron ranks 4th among all elements, after oxygen, silicon and aluminum. There is much more iron in the planet's core. But this hardware is not available and is unlikely to become available in the foreseeable future. Most of the iron - 72.4% - is in magnetite. The largest iron ore deposits in the USSR are the Kursk magnetic anomaly, the Krivoy Rog iron ore deposit, in the Urals (Mountains Magnitnaya, Vysokaya, Blagodat), in Kazakhstan - the Sokolovskoye and Sarbaiskoye deposits. Iron is a shiny silver-white metal that is easy to process: cutting, forging, rolling, stamping.
(English Iron, French Fer, German Eisen) - one of the seven metals of antiquity. It is very likely that man became acquainted with iron of meteorite origin earlier than with other metals. Meteoric iron is usually easy to distinguish from terrestrial iron, since it almost always contains from 5 to 30% nickel, most often 7-8%. Since ancient times, iron has been obtained from ores that occur almost everywhere. The most common ores are hematite (Fe 2 O 3), brown iron ore (2Fe 2 O 3, ZN 2 O) and its varieties (swamp ore, siderite, or spar iron FeCO,), magnetite (Fe 3 0 4) and some others . All these ores, when heated with coal, are easily reduced at a relatively low temperature, starting from 500 o C. The resulting metal had the appearance of a viscous spongy mass, which was then processed at 700-800 o With repeated forging.
The etymology of the names of iron in ancient languages quite clearly reflects the history of our ancestors’ acquaintance with this metal. Many ancient peoples undoubtedly became acquainted with it as a metal that fell from the sky, that is, as meteorite iron. Thus, in ancient Egypt, iron had the name bi-ni-pet (benipet, Coptic - benipe), which literally means heavenly ore, or heavenly metal. During the era of the first dynasties of Ur in Mesopotamia, iron was called an-bar (heavenly iron). The Ebers Papyrus (previously 1500 BC) contains two references to iron; in one case it is spoken of as a metal from the city of Kazi (Upper Egypt), in another - as a metal of heavenly manufacture (artpet). The ancient Greek name for iron, as well as the North Caucasian one - zido, is associated with the oldest word surviving in the Latin language - sidereus (stellar from Sidus - star, luminary). In ancient and modern Armenian, iron is called erkat, which means dripped (fell) from the sky. The fact that ancient people initially used iron of meteorite origin is also evidenced by the myths widespread among some peoples about gods or demons who dropped iron objects and tools from the sky - plows, axes, etc. It is also interesting that by the time of the discovery of America the Indians and the Eskimos of North America were not familiar with the methods of obtaining iron from ores, but they knew how to process meteorite iron.
In ancient times and the Middle Ages, the seven then known metals were compared with the seven planets, which symbolized the connection between metals and celestial bodies and the celestial origin of metals. This comparison became common more than 2000 years ago and is constantly found in literature until the 19th century. In the II century. n. e. iron was compared with Mercury and was called mercury, but later it began to be compared with Mars and called Mars, which, in particular, emphasized the external similarity of the reddish color of Mars with red iron ores.
However, some peoples did not connect the name of iron with the celestial origin of the metal. Thus, among the Slavic peoples, iron is called on a “functional” basis. Russian iron (South Slavic zalizo, Polish zelaso, Lithuanian gelesis, etc.) has the root “lez” or “rez” (from the word lezo - blade). This word formation directly indicates the function of objects made of iron - cutting tools and weapons. The prefix “zhe” is apparently a softening of the more ancient “ze” or “for”; it was preserved in its original form among many Slavic peoples (among the Czechs - zelezo). Old German philologists - representatives of the theory of Indo-European, or, as they called it, Indo-Germanic proto-language - sought to derive Slavic names from German and Sanskrit roots. For example, Fik compares the word iron with the Sanskrit ghalgha (molten metal, from ghal - to glow). But this is unlikely to correspond to reality: after all, iron smelting was inaccessible to ancient people. It is more likely that the Greek name for copper can be compared with the Sanskrit ghalgha, but not the Slavic word iron. The functional feature in the names of iron is reflected in other languages. Thus, in Latin, along with the usual name for steel (chalybs), derived from the name of the Khalib tribe, who lived on the southern coast of the Black Sea, the name acies was used, literally meaning blade or point. This word corresponds exactly to the ancient Greek, which was used in the same sense. Let us mention in a few words the origin of the German and English names for iron. Philologists generally accept that the German word Eisen is of Celtic origin, as is the English word Iron. Both terms reflect the Celtic names of rivers (Isarno, Isarkos, Eisack), which were then transformed) isarn, eisarn) and turned into Eisen. There are, however, other points of view. Some philologists derive the German Eisen from the Celtic isara, meaning "strong, strong." There are also theories that Eisen comes from ayas or aes (copper), and also from Eis (ice), etc. The Old English name for iron (before 1150) is iren; it was used along with isern and isen and passed into the Middle Ages. Modern Iron came into use after 1630. Note that in Ruland’s “Alchemical Lexicon” (1612) the word Iris is given as one of the old names for iron, meaning “rainbow” and consonant with Iron.
The Latin name Ferrum, which has become international, is adopted by the Romance peoples. It is probably related to the Greco-Latin fars (to be hard), which comes from the Sanskrit bhars (to harden). A comparison is also possible with ferreus, which among ancient writers meant “insensitive, unyielding, strong, hard, heavy,” as well as with ferre (to wear). Alchemists, along with Ferrum ynot, used many other names, for example Iris, Sarsar, Phaulec, Minera, etc.
Iron products made from meteorite iron were found in burials dating back to very ancient times (4th - 5th millennia BC) in Egypt and Mesopotamia. However, the Iron Age in Egypt began only in the 12th century. BC e., and in other countries even later. In ancient Russian literature, the word iron appears in the most ancient monuments (from the 11th century) under the names zhelezo, iron, iron.
