Editing Alloy (section)

=== Bronze and brass ===
[[file:Bronzebeile.JPG|thumb|Bronze axe 1100&nbsp;BC]]
[[file:Türzieher Bremen 1405.JPG|thumb|left|A bronze doorknocker]]

Iron is usually found as [[iron ore]] on Earth, except for one deposit of [[native iron]] in [[Greenland]], which was used by the [[Inuit]].<ref>[[#Buchwald|Buchwald]], pp. 35–37</ref> Native copper, however, was found worldwide, along with silver, gold, and [[platinum]], which were also used to make tools, jewelry, and other objects since Neolithic times. Copper was the hardest of these metals, and the most widely distributed. It became one of the most important metals to the ancients. Around 10,000 years ago in the highlands of [[Anatolia]] (Turkey), humans learned to [[smelting|smelt]] metals such as copper and [[tin]] from [[ore]]. Around 2500 BC, people began alloying the two metals to form bronze, which was much harder than its ingredients. Tin was rare, however, being found mostly in Great Britain. In the Middle East, people began alloying copper with [[zinc]] to form brass.<ref>Buchwald, pp. 39–41</ref> Ancient civilizations took into account the mixture and the various properties it produced, such as [[hardness]], toughness and melting point, under various conditions of [[temperature]] and [[work hardening]], developing much of the information contained in modern [[Phase diagram|alloy phase diagrams]].<ref name=r1/> For example, arrowheads from the Chinese [[Qin dynasty]] (around 200 BC) were often constructed with a hard bronze-head, but a softer bronze-tang, combining the alloys to prevent both dulling and breaking during use.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/emperors-ghost-army.html Emperor's Ghost Army] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171101065925/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/emperors-ghost-army.html |date=2017-11-01 }}. pbs.org. November 2014</ref>