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The
practical use of metal, isolated and modelled through hammering
or melting methods, represents a technical breakthrough reached
by humankind in a rather evolved stage of its development, close
to the age of historical civilizations which left written traditions.
Copper
was the first metal mined and crafted by man, and has been
the most important one in the oldest times of history,
because it was available in great quantities and was initially
extractable almost at the surface of ground. In addition,
it was suitable to craft weapons and tools, art objects
and ornaments.
Very likely the original center of metallurgy was on Iran
highlands, where copper was easily found. Archaelogical
excavations proved that copper crafting was known in Iran,
and by Sumerians, since the beginning of Neolithic era.
At the end of the fourth millennium B.C., copper
working had reached high technical levels in Iran, Mesopotamia
and Egypt.
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From
its original center, metallurgy spread both around the northern
edge of the "fertile Crescent", finally reaching the Mediterranean
coasts, and to the West reaching, through Anatolia, the Trojan site.
During the third millennium B.C., Troy became very important
in metallurgy history, as metal craftsmen, merchants and traders
established there their activity. From here the technical knowledge
and the materials for metal working reached the Aegean islands and
beyond. In particular, Crete influence spread to the Mediterannean
islands, like Sicily and Sardinia, and along the European coasts
to Spain.
Since about 2000 B.C. copper crafting was widely diffused in
Europe, where the Bronze Age began soon after with the development
of several and important trading routes.
The discovery of the process needed to obtain copper from its
ores was a very important event in our history: an event which
gave birth to metallurgy and laid the grounds for the development
of our great industries, not only copper industry, but indirectly
iron and steel industries.
A Tuscan "mezzina" crafted on
XVIII c. original design |
The
first copper works were made by cutting, curving and hammering
with a stone stroker on a stone anvil. The old blacksmiths
made an important discovery: metal hardens under prolonged
hammering, but can be brought back to its initial ductility
by heating (re-cooking process) with no change in shape.
Many ancient objects were manufactured through alternate
cycles of hammering and cooking, with a final hammering
to obtain the necessary hardness.
In antiquity the metal art objects were made by the blacksmith,
who utilized as raw material tin metal foils, to be crafted
with various techniques. For example, the simplest way to
obtain a copper bowl consisted in hammering a tin copper
disc placed on a wooden block hollowed to fit the profile
of the required object. This is the most ancient method
to manufacture bowls, dating back to the pre-dynastic
age of Babilonia and Egypt. Another technique was known
as "raising": a tin copper disc, having the same
diameter as the pot to be obtained, was hammered to get
the required shaped, using an anvil and a suitable hammer.
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A method
which became very popular is the embossing: hammering the
metal foil upside or downside, to obtain an embossed decoration.
Ancient craftsmen were masters of the mechanical methods, and also
had a great control on raw material during crafting. For example,
they had an excellent mastery of quenching, needed to keep
the metal ductile and fit for crafting.
As metallurgy evolved, copper was then alloyed with tin to form
bronze, which was certainly obtained at first by the accidental
union of copper and tin minerals inside furnaces. Bronze great success
in the ancient world was due to its excellence for mould casting.
For this reason it was brilliantly utilized by the artists of the
classical age, and then in the Middle Ages, and in the masterpieces
of Renaissance and Baroque.
Copper continued to be used mainly for household objects.
Working techniques remained almost unchanged over the centuries,
while the shapes were continuously improved to fit with the evolution
of lifestyle. Its properties, discovered and appreciated by our
ancient ancestors, are still valid today.
[Sources: "Enciclopedia Universale
dell'Arte", "Artifacts: an introduction to early materials and
technology", "Ancient Metals"]
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