The phrase "metals of antiquity" refers to the seven metals which humankind had identified and found use for in prehistoric times. These seven metals, gold, copper, silver, lead, tin, iron, and mercury, are the seven metals upon which modern civilization—at least Western civilization—was founded.
Of these seven metals, five can be found in their native states (gold, silver, copper, iron, and mercury). The other two, tin and lead, must be smelted from ore; however, both smelt at low enough temperatures that a simple campfire is sufficiently hot to do so, at least with ores that were available in ancient times.
Of all the elemental metals that are now known to exist (86, as of 2007), only these seven were known up until the 13th century, when arsenic was first isolated.
Famous quotes containing the words metals and/or antiquity:
“When human beings have been fascinated by the contemplation of their own hearts, the more intricate biological pattern of the female has become a model for the artist, the mystic, and the saint. When mankind turns instead to what can be done, altered, built, invented, in the outer world, all natural properties of men, animals, or metals become handicaps to be altered rather than clues to be followed.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“This seems a long while ago, and yet it happened since Milton wrote his Paradise Lost. But its antiquity is not the less great for that, for we do not regulate our historical time by the English standard, nor did the English by the Roman, nor the Roman by the Greek.... From this September afternoon, and from between these now cultivated shores, those times seemed more remote than the dark ages.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)