The history of copper

Copper and brass pot from del Tibet, XX Century

The use of copper goes back to the origins of civilization some 10,000 years ago, when somewhere in the world man stopped depending on stone tools and began to use a metal available in nature, which was easy to handle, ductile and with a previously unknown resistance.

The existence of veins of native copper of high purity made possible accessing the new element to the flourishing civilizations of the remote past of Asia and eastern Mediterranean. These peoples started using the new material to make tools and ornaments.

The oldest copper object found so far is a copper earing dated 8,700 BC and unearthed by archeologists in Northern Irak.

All the evidence suggests that copper mining evolved in civilizations existing thousands of years before Christ, such as sumerians and egyptians, cradles of human knowledge. Later on its use expanded to the old world, including the greek and roman civilizations.

With time, copper acquired great importance for the development of mankind, since alloyed with tin formed bronze, a metal which gave a name to a historic epoch, the Bronze Age.

Copper Buddha with silver ornamentation, Tibet XIX Century

In the old Egypt the hieroglyph for copper was associated to the symbol of Ankh, Ankh, which other meaning was: eternal life.

Helms were widely used in the Eastern Mediterranean both for combat and in ceremonies.

At some point in antiquity, copper mining had as a major stage the Island of Cyprus, where important copper deposits were found. The Romans knew the territory as Cyprium, from where the latin word "cuprum" comes, which eventually evolved into the English word, copper.

The use of copper through time is recorded in a number of objects and testimonies. It was used for one of the famous scrolls of the Dead Sea, for plumbing in the egyptian pyramids and to reinforce ships like the ones used by Columbus.

In america, on the other hand, the aztecs and incas also used this metal. Records of the development of metallurgy, including the production of alloys, were left in the Andean Region (see the history of Codelco).

During the XIX century, in the midst of the Industrial Revolution and with the advent of a series of inventions related to electricity and telecommunications, demand for copper increased very steeply. One of its essential properties had been discovered: its high conductivity.

At the beginnings of the XX century, the world demand for copper was close to half a million tons per year, but most of the veined deposits of high purity ore had already been exhausted.

Three Chilean copper bed heaters from the early XX Century. The one with anatomical shape was used to treat back aches.

However, the development and improvement of the technologies made possible to obtain copper even when it was found associated to other elements and in rather low concentrations. These advances made possible the birth of copper mining as we know it today, which still incorporates new advances to achieve a more efficient and sustainable exploitation.

The extraordinary technological progress of the last decades has implied a much more intensive use of copper in our lives. So the history of how this metal has affected civilization is not yet over.

In the future, copper appears as an increasingly essential material. Its use is linked to the development of the information and communication technologies, and to the more efficient use of energy, which is central to the protection of the environment of our planet.