* Metals Exist Naturally: Metals like gold, copper, and iron exist naturally in the Earth's crust. Humans didn't create these metals, they just discovered them and learned to work with them.
* Early Metallurgy: The earliest evidence of metalworking dates back thousands of years. The process evolved over time. For example, people first learned to hammer native copper into tools around 9,000 BC. Later, they discovered how to smelt ores to extract metals.
* Continuous Development: Metallurgy has been a continuous process of discovery and refinement. Throughout history, people have developed new techniques to extract, refine, and alloy metals. This is an ongoing process, with new metal alloys and processing methods still being developed today.
Instead of thinking about a specific year, it's more accurate to understand that the development of metalworking was a gradual process that began thousands of years ago and continues to evolve.
