
Paleolithic humans fire ceramic figures from clay, showing early aptitude in materials processing. 5,000 B.C.: People near modern-day Turkey learn they can not only extract liquid copper from malachite and azurite, but also cast it into various shapes. 3,000 B.C.: Metal workers in modern Syria and Turkey create bronze—one of the first alloys—by adding tin ore to copper ore. Wikimedia Commons

2,500 B.C.

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