View source for Early vulpithecine metallurgy

I went down a rabbit hole that started with a youtube video about smelting iron, which lead me ultimately to [https://tehillim-online.com/ethics-of-the-fathers/pirkei-avot-translated-into-english this Jewish ethical text]. The relevant passage is thus (emphasis added):

<blockquote><div>
Ten things were created on the eve of the Sabbath at twilight, and these are they: [1] the mouth of the earth, [2] the mouth of the well, [3] the mouth of the donkey, [4] the rainbow, [5] the manna, [6] the staff [of Moses], [7] the shamir, [8] the letters, [9] the writing, [10] and the tablets. And some say: also the demons, the grave of Moses, and the ram of Abraham, our father. '''And some say: and also tongs, made with tongs.'''
</div>
</blockquote>
The YT video mentioned this legend, the idea being that you need a pair of tongs to make another pair of tongs, so where did the first pair of tongs come from?

This made me think about what role smithing plays in early yinrih culture. Would it be the domain of the hearthkeeper? Or would she merely provide the fire while a layman did the actual smithing. I'm currently inclined to the latter. I also like the idea of legendary artifacts being tools of creation rather than weapons of destruction.

Further, I've read that gold was the first metal worked by humans, with copper being the first practical metal. The first metals would have been cold-worked (merely pounded and pulled into place rather than melted and molded) and gathered as native (pure) copper rather than melted from ore found in a mine. I haven't given much about the properties of caerulium other than its color. Perhaps like gold for humans, caerulium was found native and was soft enough to be cold worked. In any case cold working would get around the taboo of men starting fires.


[[Category:History]] [[Category:Megathread Uploads]]