In the third episode of this season, we explore why the iron age didn't come first. How did we come to use metal? What did it do to early empires? Where did an unlikely object shatter the understanding of rusting? Find out in this episode.

References:

• Comelli, D., et al. (2016). The meteoritic origin of Tutankhamun's iron dagger blade. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 51(7), 1301-1309.

• Wertime, T. A., & Muhly, J. D. (1980). The Coming of the Age of Iron. Yale University Press.

• Balasubramaniam, R. (2000). On the Corrosion Resistance of the Delhi Iron Pillar. Corrosion Science, 42(12), 2103-2129.

• Reardon, A. C. (2011). Metallurgy for the Non-Metallurgist. ASM International.

Script writing, recording and editing done by me, Jake. Sound effects and backing music from Pixabay.

Noticed a mistake? Let me know at [email protected]

Fancy making a shiny new cover art, or a unique theme song, reach out to me using the email above to discuss.

In our second episode, we look at how humans went from simple stones, to magnificent metal. How did we come to use copper? Where did we get it from? And what were the challenges of creating bronze? Find out in this latest episode.

References:

• Kradradjee, B., & Charles, J. A. (1980). The first metallurgists: Smelting and alloying in the ancient Near East. Journal of Archaeological Science, 7(3), 211–230.

• Pernicka, E. (2014). Provenance determination of archaeological metal objects. In Roberts, B. W., & Thornton, C. P. (Eds.), Archaeometallurgy in Global Perspective (pp. 239–268). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9017-3_10

• Radivojević, M., Rehren, T., Pernicka, E., Šljivar, D., Brauns, M., & Borić, D. (2010). On the origins of extractive metallurgy: New evidence from Europe. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37(11), 2775–2787. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.06.012

• Roberts, B. W., Thornton, C. P., & Pigott, V. C. (2009). Development of metallurgical technologies in the ancient world. World Archaeology, 41(4), 512–522. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438240903345134

• Wertime, T. A. (1973). The beginnings of metallurgy: A new look. Science, 182(4115), 875–887. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.182.4115.875

Script writing, recording and editing done by me, Jake. Sound effects and backing music from Pixabay.

Noticed a mistake? Let me know at [email protected]

Fancy making a shiny new cover art, or a unique theme song, reach out to me using the email above to discuss.

Chapters:

(00:00) Intro

(02:50) Act 1 - Extraction Chemistry: The Smelting Breakthrough

(07:46) Act 2 - The Crystal Lattice & The Arsenic Gamble

(12:19) Act 3 - Enter Tin: The Geopolitical Atom

(15:32) Act 4 - The Collapse and the Chemistry of Yesterday

(17:56) Conclusion

In the first, inaugural episode of the Chemistry Timeline, we travel back to the first time hominins harnessed chemistry. How did fire come to be part of our everyday lives, and how did it change our biology, our social skills, and our understanding of the material world?

References:

• Attila, Y. (2018). The history of fire use and its effects on human sociality. DergiPark, 4(2), 112–125.

• Gowlett, J. A. J. (2016). The discovery of fire by humans: a long and convoluted process. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371(1696), 20150164. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0164

• Huang, C., Li, J., & Gao, X. (2022). Evidence of fire use by Homo erectus pekinensis: An XRD study of archaeological bones from Zhoukoudian Locality 1, China. Frontiers in Earth Science, 9, Article 811319. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.811319

• Marin-Monfort, M. D., Shaw, C. L., Natalio, F., Grossman, L., Andrews, P., Campos, J., & Fernández-Jalvo, Y. (2026). New evidence for Early Pleistocene use of fire at Wonderwerk Cave (South Africa). PLoS ONE, 21(6), e0347480. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0347480

• Roebroeks, W., & Villa, P. (2011). On the earliest evidence for habitual use of fire in Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(13), 5209–5214. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1018116108

• Wiessner, P. W. (2014). Embers of society: Firelight talk among the Ju/’hoansi Bushmen. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(39), 14027–14033. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1404212111

• Wrangham, R. (2009). Catching fire: How cooking made us human. Basic Books.

Script writing, recording and editing done by me, Jake. Sound effects and backing music from Pixabay.

Noticed a mistake? Let me know at [email protected]

Fancy making a shiny new cover art, or a unique theme song, reach out to me using the email above to discuss.

Chapters:

(00:00) Intro

(03:03) Act 1: The Microscopic Mosh Pit (The Science of Combustion)

(09:05) Act 2: The Pyrophilic Primate & The Muddy Evidence

(14:02) Act 3: How Cooking Rewrote the Human Anatomy

(18:07) Act 4: The Fireside Social Network

(21:33) Conclusion