HUMAN HISTORY 125 



Brenner, and reached the Danube by means of the Inn ; thence 

 it traversed the Bohemian forest to the Moldau, and thus reached 

 the Elbe, which was followed to its mouth. Another began at 

 Trieste, and passing through Laibach and Gratz reached the 

 Danube by means of the Leitha ; thence it followed the March, 

 traversed Moravia, passed through Silesia along the Oder, while 

 the Vistula was reached by striking across Posen, the principal 

 terminus being DanzigJ 



11. Obscurity surrounds the location and date of the first use 

 of metal.2 Gold was probably the first metal known to man ; it 

 is found in the pure state in many countries, and would attract 

 attention owing to its lustre. It was not, however, of economic 

 importance until much later. In all probability man learnt the 

 art of metal working from the accidental reduction of ore that 

 formed one of the ring of stones round the camp fire. Copper 

 may have been first used where it appears at the surface in a pure 

 state, having been beaten into implements, as was done by the 

 Indians near Lake Superior ; the use of this metal is, however, 

 until heat is employed, to be regarded merely as a variation of 

 the art of stone implement making, and does not form the first 

 step in the art of metal working for which knowledge of reduction 

 by heat is required. It is frequently said that an age of copper 

 preceded the age of bronze, and in many places copper imple- 

 ments were used before bronze implements. Probably the 

 occurrence of a Copper Age in any one place was dependent upon 

 the nature of the ore found there. Copper is frequently asso- 

 ciated with tin and other metals in a state of nature. We may 

 suppose that the first metal workers were simply trying to get 

 metal — being aware that metal could be obtained by heating 

 certain kinds of stone — and that in some places they got copper 

 and in other places bronze. Later they learnt to add a definite 

 percentage of tin or some other metal, and thus to produce an 

 alloy of definite composition. Thus a true Bronze Age followed 

 either a Copper Age or an accidental Bronze Age. It is some- 

 what curious that iron was not taken sooner into use, for less 

 heat is required than in the case of copper for reduction — 700° C. 

 to 800° C. as against 1,100° C. 



' Jade was found in the first city of Hissarlik, which must have come from 

 the Kuen-lun (Gowland, J. A. I., vol. xlii, 1912, p. 260). ^ On this subject 



see Gowland, loc. cit., p. 236. 



