Editing Copper (section)

====Bronze Age====
{{Main|Bronze Age}}
[[File:Egyptian - Blue Faience Saucer and Stand - Walters 481608 - Top.jpg|thumb|Copper was used in blue pigments like this "[[Egyptian Blue]]" [[Egyptian faience|faience]] saucer and stand from the Bronze Age, [[New Kingdom of Egypt]] (1400–1325&nbsp;BC).]]
Natural bronze, a type of copper made from ores rich in silicon, arsenic, and (rarely) tin, came into general use in the Balkans around 5500&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Chinese Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology|last=Dainian|first=Fan|pages=228}}</ref> Alloying copper with tin to make bronze was first practiced about 4000 years after the discovery of copper smelting, and about 2000 years after "natural bronze" had come into general use.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Epigenetics: The Death of the Genetic Theory of Disease Transmission|last=Wallach|first=Joel}}</ref> Bronze artifacts from the [[Vinča culture]] date to 4500&nbsp;BC.<ref name="antiquity1312">{{cite web | url = http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/087/ant0871030.htm | title = Tainted ores and the rise of tin bronzes in Eurasia, c. 6500 years ago | first1 = Miljana | last1 = Radivojević | first2 = Thilo | last2 = Rehren | publisher = Antiquity Publications Ltd | date = December 2013 | access-date = 5 February 2014 | archive-date = 5 February 2014 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20140205001504/http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/087/ant0871030.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref> [[Sumer]]ian and [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] artifacts of copper and bronze alloys date to 3000&nbsp;BC.<ref name="hist">{{cite book|pages = 13, 48–66|title = Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology|author = McNeil, Ian |publisher = Routledge|date = 2002|location = London; New York|isbn = 978-0-203-19211-5}}</ref> [[Egyptian Blue]], or cuprorivaite (calcium copper silicate) is a synthetic pigment that contains copper and started being used in [[ancient Egypt]] around 3250&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Eastaugh |first1=Nicholas |last2=Walsh |first2=Valentine |last3=Chaplin |first3=Tracey |last4=Siddall |first4=Ruth |date=2013-06-17 |title=Pigment Compendium: Optical Microscopy of Historical Pigments |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780080454573 |doi=10.4324/9780080454573|isbn=9781136373794 }}</ref> The manufacturing process of Egyptian blue was known to the Romans, but by the fourth century AD the pigment fell out of use and the secret to its manufacturing process became lost. The Romans said the blue pigment was made from copper, silica, lime and [[natron]] and was known to them as ''[[Cerulean|caeruleum]].''

The [[Bronze Age]] began in Southeastern Europe around 3700–3300&nbsp;BC, in Northwestern Europe about 2500&nbsp;BC. It ended with the beginning of the Iron Age, 2000–1000&nbsp;BC in the Near East, and 600&nbsp;BC in Northern Europe. The transition between the [[Neolithic]] period and the Bronze Age was formerly termed the [[Chalcolithic]] period (copper-stone), when copper tools were used with stone tools. The term has gradually fallen out of favor because in some parts of the world, the Chalcolithic and Neolithic are coterminous at both ends. Brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, is of much more recent origin. It was known to the Greeks, but became a significant supplement to bronze during the Roman Empire.<ref name="hist" />