Essential trace metals in man: Copper

Abstract

COPPER, atomic number 29, has played a dominant role in civilization since the Stone Age. Attractive to the eye, malleable and ductile, found native and in many minerals, copper was probably the first metal worked by ancient man some 7000 to 8000 years ago. The earliest known artifacts of hammered copper were found in Anatolia, Syria, Iraq and Iran; they date from the 6th and 5th millennia, B.C. Annealing and toolmaking were developed during the next 500 years, altering the course of human history. After 4000 B.C., melting and casting of copper became common practices in the Near East& Smelting was developed about 3000 B.C., followed in 500 years by the invention of bronze, exploited probably near Byblos (Lebanon), which stimulated an extensive civilization lasting a thousand years. The new art of metallurgy apparently spread over most of the world, although bronze was little used in the Western Hemisphere and not at all in Africa for many centuries [ll. Brass was not developed until Roman times [2]. In the modern age, Western civilization has become even more dependent upon copper. Copper’s electrical conductivity is second only to that of silver. Its abundance has provided the means for the enormous advances based on electricity during the past 80 years. Food has been cooked in copper vessels since the metal was first worked, for copper is the best of all metals as a conductor of heat. One of the Laws of Moses concerned the cleanliness of copper vessels5 which are still used over much of the known world for cooking food. In India, pots and pans of copper are periodically tinned to prevent contact of food with the metal.