Somewhere I read that the depiction of Ephestus the forge god as a deformed men was a depiction of ancient blacksmiths using arsenic in their craft to make bronze. Long term exposure to arsenic it's not only mortal also can deform limbs an incapacitate before killing. So for the ancient greek their forge god had the features of the great forge masters of the mythical times.
I tried to find evidence that arsenic causes deformations but didn't see anything. I did see though that the semitic craftsman god Kothar-wa-Khasis possibly walked with a limp, the Egyptian craftsman god Ptah used to be thought of as a deformed dwarf and the Norse bronzeworking god Weyland the Smith was lame. But there could be other reasons for those similarities (and there are plenty of able bodied craftsmanship gods in other cultures). The idea of a god of craftsmanship being physically imperfect is a very interesting idea itself.
@@br2485 Hephaestus's misshapen appearance and lameness are taken by some to represent peripheral neuropathy and skin cancer resulting from arsenicosis caused by arsenic exposure from metalworking.[73] Bronze Age smiths added arsenic to copper to produce harder arsenical bronze, especially during periods of tin scarcity. Many Bronze Age smiths would have suffered from chronic arsenic poisoning as a result of their livelihood. Consequently, the mythic image of the lame smith is widespread. As Hephaestus was an iron-age smith, not a bronze-age smith, the connection is one from ancient folk memory.[74] en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hephaestus#:~:text=Hephaestus%27s%20misshapen%20appearance%20and%20lameness,during%20periods%20of%20tin%20scarcity.
@@TheSulross Industrialization and modern technology would simplify the Sumerian language and alphabet or invent a new simpler language similar to English Think of all the tragedies prevented by having the Industrial Revolution occur Five THOUSAND Years Ago!!!
@@christiandauz3742 we would have burned through the worlds resources by now and we would be living in the technological dark ages on a used-up, polluted planet probably littered with weapons of war from right about when the resources ran out
@@EpimetheusHistory Nice vid though, a wee detail... when decribing why copper, lead and gold were utilised first, I struggle with the priorisation of aesthetics there - the primary reason for their discovery has to be their low smelting temperatures - it would not have been possible for them to smelt iron first with their given level of technology in managing their fires i.e. iron requires efficient bellows - therefore, the discovery of metal smelting is bound to occur with these materials first. Lead in particular can be melted on a naturally aspirated, wood burning camp fire (at 375°c) and is therefore the obvious first step as this can happen by accident - smelting both copper and gold on the other hand require temperatures over 1000°c which is only achievable with artificial aspiration (bellows) and a very concerted effort, so this process must be done with foresight and the intention of smelting ore. Melting or smelting iron ore on the other hand requires sustaining a fire at just over 1500°c, which is a very serious undertaking not achievable without a lot of acquired experience and knowledge - there's no chance of that being discovered by accident. So, above and beyond aesthetic appeal, practical limitations force this evolution - point being, we could do away with these titles of "copper-age", "bronze-age" and "iron-age" and instead look at this span of time (running right up to today) as the gradual evolution of our skill in managing fire and raising its temperature ever higher. In terms of the craft behind this progression, that would be a much more sensible way of approaching the matter, rather than creating these false abstractions dividing periods by materials - because the practice behind those materials remains unchanging - this is all unified under the bracket of progressive skill in the management of our fires. [Incidentally, I suspect developments in firing clay pots may have been woven into this evolution and, more interestingly, perhaps fire-setting work in (megalithic) quarrying of stone during the neolithic was actually the first step in this process - wherein the possibility of transforming stone with fire was perhaps first introduced to the neolithic craftsman's mind.... Which eventually led from weakening and breaking the stone they worked by heating to melting ore stones. There's a band of weirdos, including myself, exploring this hypothesis at present.]
@@JesseP.Watson Those are all native metals. They can be found in nature, ready to work without smelting. This likely played a part in why man started working with these metals. Compare that to aluminum which was once precious enough that a number of Napoleonic medals were made of it. Lightning strikes in desert sands did the smelting.
Copper is the primary element in the electrical wiring in your home and computer, thus it sponsors communication, sponsors generation and delivery of electric power and is 88.5% of the 2022 Lincoln penny, so it sponsors recycling itself.
I found the Bronze Age endlessly fascinating, and some independent research taught me about the Copper Age, but this video does such a great job at really illustrating this period of history. I didn't understand why copper became so important, but the context makes it clear. Coming from tools of stone and bone, metal probably turned society on its head! I loved one comment in particular, of how the people in the Bronze Age saw the Copper Age as a time of myths and legends. In the same way, we today look at our past and try to imagine it, so too did the people who came before us.
That last comment was also deeply meaningful to me. I couldn't stop thinking about how the epic of Gilgamesh - one of the oldest songs we have record of - opens up with "in those old days". It really puts into perspective how LONG we actually have come through as species.
It helps that copper often appears as elemental copper -- nearly pure copper rocks. If your technology is based on working various rocks, it's natural to wonder what you can do with these shiny pretty rocks.
Every time I watch one of your vids on the pre-iron age, I'm convinced an excellent strategy game could be built from the resource gated situation: do you breed your warhorses, or risk them on expansion? Do you risk losing your copper weapons on an mercenary expedition, sell them as jewelry to neighbours, or increase crop yields with tools? Do you share metallurgy knowledge so you can trade for it later, or keep it secret and limit the total available resource?
No need for a game...all of the above really happened in different iterations. I won't spoil it for you, but there were some paths that were clearly more successful(?) than others (see video on Sumeria and Assyria)
Through the Ages is a board game that also has a digital version on iOS. This is the best yet complicated game about history I’ve played. But I still would love something focused on this copper age time period.
Said it before and I'll say it again: the best history channel on RUclips. And there are many good ones. Epimetheus is just that damn good and he keeps improving.
Great to hear a rundown of the copper age, always wanted to hear more about it ever since my Chemistry teacher casually mentioned it in one of his off-topic rambles.
Off-topic rambles of the smarter teachers are some of the only things I remember from school some 20 years later. poking curiosity was the greatest thing any of my teachers did.
I am at best an amateur historian. I have however read countless histories of the Middle East, but this is an outstanding analysis! Thank you for the time you spent creating it, and even more so for sharing it!
The first appearance of a copper culture was in the Great Lakes region of what is now known as Wisconsin. The 'Old Copper Complex' (Wiki) began in 7500BC or 1500 years prior to anywhere else in the world. It lasted until 1000BC.
Shhhh....middle east. Civilization started in the middle east. Nowhere else. Worship joos, I mean....the middle east "cradle of civilization". It's just so FERTILE don't ya know? There was no culture in Asia or America til the mighty YahWeh saw it fit to spread his mighty...CIVILIZATION.
You cover litterally everything not main stream. It's awesome because I'm a fan of history and I discovered I didn't even knew the copper and bronze ages existed with your videos. Your bronze age video was beyond great.
I did not know that arsenic was in some ore deposits of copper... makes sense that this would give rise to an alchemical mythos. The original name for Egypt was Khemit ~ Origin of the word CHEMISTRY ~ I suspect that gold and silver also had very early origins.
Dude, thank you for doing this! I love the most ancient times of civilization, but sometimes it's hard to see how it all connects and the Copper Age really does put the pieces of the puzzle together
Great storytelling and love how this video illuminates the context of the Bronze Age, which remains an enduring interest of mine since many years. Thank you for your great work!
I love it when history channels do niche/semi-niche topics like this. Not enough Copper Age videos out there. Would love to see something like the history of farming and agriculture too. Might also be an excuse to talk about population growth/population centers or even population decline.
I wish there were more videos about it. It's super interesting and covered over 2000 years depending on the area but it's almost never brought up in history classes or major documentaries
smelting still still seems mysterious as had to figure out how to make fires reach much higher temperatures than an ordinary fire for cooking or warmth - and then discover that some "rocks" melt when subjected to theses much more intense fires
@@TheSulross you probably never enjoyed the warmth of a proper fire. Here in Canada I've had nights around a camp fire we're the heat was enough to turn a iron poker red to Orange hot. No added charcoal, no special ventilation regular camp fire. A fire is definitely hot enough to melt copper and gold
@@TheSulross copper occurs in metallic form fairly frequently in nature, so you can discover copper without inventing smelting first. no fun-loving person needs a good reason to burn random stuff or try to make a really hot fire so, once people know the value of metal and start watching out for it more closely, eventually the techniques for smelting will be worked out.
Watch the story of Otzi the Iceman, who now they know was killed by an arrow to the back oh, it's a fascinating story that they've pieced together from exactly this time. 5300 years ago, the border between the copper and the Stone Age
@@zenolachance1181 They found him with both stone and copper tools. He had a bow with stoneheaded arrows, a stone knife and copper dagger and a copper axe.
Not just for the algorithm: Great and very clear video. Including somehow Norte-Chico/Caral is fortunate. And I love that combination of maps and superimposed images. Thank you :)
@@EpimetheusHistory At 10:12, you refer to "blacksmiths" seeking to improve on arsenic bronze...of course, they didn't speak English, but a "blacksmith" works with iron, and eventually, steel: people who work with cast, forging and forming copper* are coppersmiths, just as Paul Revere was a smith, but not a blacksmith, as he worked with silver and pewter...(although his hands probably got pretty black!), silversmiths, and goldsmiths also specialize, as indicated...
Thank you so much for your super informative videos!! You are really helping people. Your videos were shown in my son's 7th grade social studies class last year and are a wonderful guide for my research as well.
From stone to the Copper age - like going from an iPhone 6 to a 12 - But one more thing - got something called Bronze for ya and we're working on something call iron. Your videos are excellent my friend!
You use Iphones to refer huge technological changes that improves people's life. But Iphone has been the same thing since Iphone 3 or 4, just sightly better camera and hardware and you pay the whole price again for just some small upgradings. The only thing Apple have achieved since then is to convince people every new version of their products is a huge technological jump so the big money paid on these products is justified. Even you lost the sound jack port, now you cant use third party headphones. LOL.
I love your videos - all this long sweep of history with civilisational collapse shows that we still, even after COVID, take our civilisation for granted far more than we should and that lots of ancestors went through unimagineable horrors and kept persevering and as a result we are here.
It's baffling to think about how different life must have been all the way back then. And yet we can still experience many of the exact same emotions and sensations they must have felt. So distant yet so close.
High school history be like: First there was the Stone Age, and that lasted like three generations. Then papyrus, then Rome then the Magna Carta and pretty much nothing in between. With a final that's fifty questions like: 'The Bronze Age was known for the use of ____ in tools and weapons.' (a) bronze (b) rechargeable batteries (c) lasers (d) all of the above
@@eduardopupucon Not sure where this guy lives but in my history class we learned much more than that. We covered ancient greece, Fuedal Japan, the many Dynasties of China, the rise of Islam, the Ottoman Empire, and many more topics.
Good to see you use the term _Copper Age_ . Too many historistians like to cover it up under the cute Rule of 3: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age. Everything fits neatly & History is the natural Progression of events.
to be honest tho, stone age is really just a side age because its stone, a rock. nothing much could be done and it should be classified as "the epilogue of hunter gathering" as people started to realize that farming and mining can be done, which brought about civilization which brought about science which did etc
@@Harsh-tf9he “We’ll be saying a big hello to all intelligent lifeforms everywhere and to everyone else out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys.”
I find the slow transition from nomadic to farming and using stone tools, to settling down, growing food and cities alike and realizing "hey, we need a ton of systems to keep track of all the new things this mass of people need" and literally inventing governments, writing and counting - "just" to say "hey, this is mine, because I traded this copper axe for 15 goats, and here is the clay token that proofs it" Or being the fricking first human to smelt copper. Wild wild times, I love it - beautiful video man.
Astoundingly good, dear Epi... Love your integreative intel mind, analysis & presentation styles. This is one of the key transition points in civilization, wonderfully elucidated. Jus sayin... ; D
I was vaguely aware of copper as a raw material for decorative objects, tools and weapons at some time in history but I'd never encountered it as an 'Age' before. A highly instructive video, thanks.
There is something about your videos that help me remember more of the information I have learned before but commonly forget. Like dates , locations and names. Not sure if it’s your script details or just your voice.
“Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late.” - Thomas Sowell Keep making great videos Epimetheus 👍🏽
This is the first animated history video that I’ve seen that wasn’t rubbish, and filled with childish jokes. There was quite a bit of information included, and the analysis was very well done.
That we know of. This is far as archeology really can show us, as nearly all settlements everywhere in the world from earlier than this period are now underwater. Sea levels rise hundreds of feet circa 5600bc and as he states nearly all human civilization (then and now) was along coastlines or large rivers which may not exist today.
Nuclear can be divide between fission and fusion, which are actually incredibly different processes that interact with different fundamental forces. We are still really in the oil age, fission is not widely enough used and whilst weve know fussion for 70 years we dont know how to generate surplus power with it yet.
The last mammoths went extinct at the end of the Copper age. Any mammoths on mainland had already gone extinct at least two thousand years prior. These mammoths survived on an arid island, off the coast of Siberia. And could not make it back when the ice sheets melted. Due to warmer climates. These mammoths also eventually perished but not directly due to climate change, but rather because of their extensive isolation for many many generations. Their genetic structure became not sterile, but damaged because the gene pool was simply too small.
@@DesertsOfHighfleet Indeed ! One interesting story I heard is the Vainakh Chechens are directed descendants of Scandinavian Vikings and that the Avar and Ingush people are descendants of the Scythians and Gokturks. The Caucasus mountains is truly steeped in history and culture and was the arena of many wars between the Persian, Russian, Mongol, Ottoman, Byzantine and Arab empires.
One of the subtleties of moving from the copper age to the bronze age, was the mining of tin: just add molten tin to molten copper and you have bronze - so the difference between Copper Age and Bronze Age is quite clear, just find out when the mining of tin became substantial.
@@AlbertaGeek Yup. But the difference between the Copper Age and Bronze Age was actually having the tin to add to the copper - it wasn't just a case of looking in the pantry and thinking, 'Ah, maybe I should add some tin to my copper'. They had to mine it and refine it first, and that means that the bronze age was an evolution of tin production, having first been in place. Great comment, though!!!
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
The super ancient vids like this are the best ones.
true
Yes
What are you talking about, this video is 2 days old
Agreeed
@@greenkoopa He's talking about topic, Can you not understand?
I've never seen a youtuber tackle the copper age. Props to you, man.
was before the Bronze Age - done!
@@TheSulross it's not on age of empires so it doesn't exist
@@noobian3314 ya I started learning history because of that game, and thank god I did.
@@9051team I got interested from Rome and medieval 2 total war, which are both horribly inaccurate, but ah well.
Miniminiuteman youre welcome
Somewhere I read that the depiction of Ephestus the forge god as a deformed men was a depiction of ancient blacksmiths using arsenic in their craft to make bronze. Long term exposure to arsenic it's not only mortal also can deform limbs an incapacitate before killing. So for the ancient greek their forge god had the features of the great forge masters of the mythical times.
That’s badass. Hope it’s true.
Arsenic can replace Tin in Bronze and Arsenic Bronze was well known on the Iranian plateau by the 5th millennium BC
There’s a reason they preferred non-arsenic bronzes
I tried to find evidence that arsenic causes deformations but didn't see anything.
I did see though that the semitic craftsman god Kothar-wa-Khasis possibly walked with a limp, the Egyptian craftsman god Ptah used to be thought of as a deformed dwarf and the Norse bronzeworking god Weyland the Smith was lame.
But there could be other reasons for those similarities (and there are plenty of able bodied craftsmanship gods in other cultures). The idea of a god of craftsmanship being physically imperfect is a very interesting idea itself.
@@br2485 Hephaestus's misshapen appearance and lameness are taken by some to represent peripheral neuropathy and skin cancer resulting from arsenicosis caused by arsenic exposure from metalworking.[73] Bronze Age smiths added arsenic to copper to produce harder arsenical bronze, especially during periods of tin scarcity. Many Bronze Age smiths would have suffered from chronic arsenic poisoning as a result of their livelihood. Consequently, the mythic image of the lame smith is widespread. As Hephaestus was an iron-age smith, not a bronze-age smith, the connection is one from ancient folk memory.[74]
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hephaestus#:~:text=Hephaestus%27s%20misshapen%20appearance%20and%20lameness,during%20periods%20of%20tin%20scarcity.
You know shit is real when Epimetheus stops talking about Bronze age
Every good series needs a prequel ☺️
I wish I can go back in time and Industrialized Ancient Sumeria
Christian Dauz Yeah, but we'd be stuck with a funky wedge shaped alphabet
@@TheSulross
Industrialization and modern technology would simplify the Sumerian language and alphabet or invent a new simpler language similar to English
Think of all the tragedies prevented by having the Industrial Revolution occur Five THOUSAND Years Ago!!!
@@christiandauz3742 we would have burned through the worlds resources by now and we would be living in the technological dark ages on a used-up, polluted planet probably littered with weapons of war from right about when the resources ran out
The real world depiction of the different materials at the beginning were a very satisfactory representations. You have my admiration for this idea.
I was walking by my mom's garden and saw the oxidized hippo, bucket and the green rock and thought "definitely changing the intro to my video" :)
@@EpimetheusHistory Nice vid though, a wee detail... when decribing why copper, lead and gold were utilised first, I struggle with the priorisation of aesthetics there - the primary reason for their discovery has to be their low smelting temperatures - it would not have been possible for them to smelt iron first with their given level of technology in managing their fires i.e. iron requires efficient bellows - therefore, the discovery of metal smelting is bound to occur with these materials first.
Lead in particular can be melted on a naturally aspirated, wood burning camp fire (at 375°c) and is therefore the obvious first step as this can happen by accident - smelting both copper and gold on the other hand require temperatures over 1000°c which is only achievable with artificial aspiration (bellows) and a very concerted effort, so this process must be done with foresight and the intention of smelting ore.
Melting or smelting iron ore on the other hand requires sustaining a fire at just over 1500°c, which is a very serious undertaking not achievable without a lot of acquired experience and knowledge - there's no chance of that being discovered by accident.
So, above and beyond aesthetic appeal, practical limitations force this evolution - point being, we could do away with these titles of "copper-age", "bronze-age" and "iron-age" and instead look at this span of time (running right up to today) as the gradual evolution of our skill in managing fire and raising its temperature ever higher. In terms of the craft behind this progression, that would be a much more sensible way of approaching the matter, rather than creating these false abstractions dividing periods by materials - because the practice behind those materials remains unchanging - this is all unified under the bracket of progressive skill in the management of our fires.
[Incidentally, I suspect developments in firing clay pots may have been woven into this evolution and, more interestingly, perhaps fire-setting work in (megalithic) quarrying of stone during the neolithic was actually the first step in this process - wherein the possibility of transforming stone with fire was perhaps first introduced to the neolithic craftsman's mind.... Which eventually led from weakening and breaking the stone they worked by heating to melting ore stones. There's a band of weirdos, including myself, exploring this hypothesis at present.]
@@JesseP.Watson That is, the history of life is the history of energy harnessing and manipulation.
@@JesseP.Watson Those are all native metals. They can be found in nature, ready to work without smelting. This likely played a part in why man started working with these metals. Compare that to aluminum which was once precious enough that a number of Napoleonic medals were made of it. Lightning strikes in desert sands did the smelting.
Man, how did you manage to secure a copper sponsorship? You hardly see them sponsoring anything nowadays
Ikr
Big Copper, always near, always here. Pulling the strings for 10,000 years. Mwa ha ha haa!
Ya, and the sales pitch was great, but I can't find the links to copper in the description. Please help,I have many zink pennies to smash.
He sent an application written in cuneiform, on clay tablet, to Ea-Nasir. That man's a scoundrel but he knows good advertising when he sees it.
Copper is the primary element in the electrical wiring in your home and computer, thus it sponsors communication, sponsors generation and delivery of electric power and is 88.5% of the 2022 Lincoln penny, so it sponsors recycling itself.
WE MISSED YOU EPIMETHEUS !!! WE NEED MORE CONTENT FROM YOU
ALL HAIL THE UNREPLACEABLE EPIMETHEUS
I rate this guy so much I genuinely just became a Patreon for the first time in my life
Become a patreon
@@zxera9702 I mean not everyone can afford it. It's not something you should say as lightly as you just did for future references
@@RodolfoGaming ok..my bad
I found the Bronze Age endlessly fascinating, and some independent research taught me about the Copper Age, but this video does such a great job at really illustrating this period of history. I didn't understand why copper became so important, but the context makes it clear. Coming from tools of stone and bone, metal probably turned society on its head! I loved one comment in particular, of how the people in the Bronze Age saw the Copper Age as a time of myths and legends. In the same way, we today look at our past and try to imagine it, so too did the people who came before us.
That last comment was also deeply meaningful to me. I couldn't stop thinking about how the epic of Gilgamesh - one of the oldest songs we have record of - opens up with "in those old days". It really puts into perspective how LONG we actually have come through as species.
It helps that copper often appears as elemental copper -- nearly pure copper rocks. If your technology is based on working various rocks, it's natural to wonder what you can do with these shiny pretty rocks.
When ever Im sick I enjoy mimicking Epimetheus voice
It is so odd
You get sick often
@@rya7642 no
NOBODY TALKS ABOUT THE COPPER AGE OH MY GOD I'M SO HAPPY YOU ARE EPI!!
ALL HAIL THE UNREPLACEABLE EPIMETHEUS
@@RodolfoGaming Hail Epimetheus all my homies love Epimetheus.
@@liviavaleria1342 this
damn those Bronze elitists, lol
There were other ages too like before the stone age there was the wtf age, and before that was the dum knt age.
I find it so interesting when inventions like copper smelting are invented independently of other civilizations. The crossbow is another good example.
When two students have the same answers to their homework, sometimes they didn't copy each other's work. Maybe the answers were just correct.
Trade maybe connected our world way more than we would think. I think our ancestors were way better sea navigators than we give them credit for.
Great minds think alike, even great minds on the other side of the world
Because were all humans with the same brains that think the same way and come up with similar solutions.
@@YaBoiDREX not that simple, as great civilizations are not evenly dispersed throughout the world nor is avg IQ
i love the cute little gem trees at the start
8:06 good to see the Uruk-hai developed their own civilization after the War of the Ring
Their civilization was before the war. During the war of the rings they had steel armour.
Uruk is just orcish for folk or people
Why did I have to see this while in the middle of a Shadow of Mordor playthrough of all times possible ?
"A new power is rising! Its victory is at hand!"
Matt Damon.
Every time I watch one of your vids on the pre-iron age, I'm convinced an excellent strategy game could be built from the resource gated situation: do you breed your warhorses, or risk them on expansion? Do you risk losing your copper weapons on an mercenary expedition, sell them as jewelry to neighbours, or increase crop yields with tools? Do you share metallurgy knowledge so you can trade for it later, or keep it secret and limit the total available resource?
No need for a game...all of the above really happened in different iterations. I won't spoil it for you, but there were some paths that were clearly more successful(?) than others (see video on Sumeria and Assyria)
Pre-dynastic Egypt and Egypt: Old Kingdom (both available on Steam for a few bucks) got you.
@@goo894 Exactly. The mining of copper in the Sinaï is even a 'plot point' in the latter.
check out dawn of men
Through the Ages is a board game that also has a digital version on iOS. This is the best yet complicated game about history I’ve played. But I still would love something focused on this copper age time period.
Said it before and I'll say it again: the best history channel on RUclips. And there are many good ones. Epimetheus is just that damn good and he keeps improving.
Great to hear a rundown of the copper age, always wanted to hear more about it ever since my Chemistry teacher casually mentioned it in one of his off-topic rambles.
Off-topic rambles of the smarter teachers are some of the only things I remember from school some 20 years later. poking curiosity was the greatest thing any of my teachers did.
@@fortusvictus8297 I could not agree more!
Ur chem teach a ho cuh
I have been waiting for copper age for so long thank you for making this one!
I am at best an amateur historian. I have however read countless histories of the Middle East, but this is an outstanding analysis! Thank you for the time you spent creating it, and even more so for sharing it!
The first appearance of a copper culture was in the Great Lakes region of what is now known as Wisconsin. The 'Old Copper Complex' (Wiki) began in 7500BC or 1500 years prior to anywhere else in the world. It lasted until 1000BC.
Shhhh....middle east. Civilization started in the middle east. Nowhere else. Worship joos, I mean....the middle east "cradle of civilization". It's just so FERTILE don't ya know?
There was no culture in Asia or America til the mighty YahWeh saw it fit to spread his mighty...CIVILIZATION.
man I have been around from the first couple of videos and its awesome to see the wild leaps you've made on production quality. atta boy!
New Epimetheus! My day is made! Still the best content on RUclips.
I'm 61 and learn something from almost all of the videos like this, thank you for your work!
You cover litterally everything not main stream. It's awesome because I'm a fan of history and I discovered I didn't even knew the copper and bronze ages existed with your videos. Your bronze age video was beyond great.
you... didn't know the bronze age exists? modern western education is truly a crime against humanity.
@@BlackMasterRoshi Then imagine the education in the rest of the world... ;_;
I did not know that arsenic was in some ore deposits of copper... makes sense that this would give rise to an alchemical mythos. The original name for Egypt was Khemit ~ Origin of the word CHEMISTRY ~ I suspect that gold and silver also had very early origins.
Appreciate that you put your sources in the description. 🙏🏾👍🏾
Dude, thank you for doing this! I love the most ancient times of civilization, but sometimes it's hard to see how it all connects and the Copper Age really does put the pieces of the puzzle together
Great storytelling and love how this video illuminates the context of the Bronze Age, which remains an enduring interest of mine since many years. Thank you for your great work!
Day improved, thank you man
Ah, the last time a penny was worth it’s weight.
Bruh
Thanks for creating & sharing this, Epimetheus! I’m glad this was recommended
I love it when history channels do niche/semi-niche topics like this. Not enough Copper Age videos out there.
Would love to see something like the history of farming and agriculture too. Might also be an excuse to talk about population growth/population centers or even population decline.
I wish there were more videos about it. It's super interesting and covered over 2000 years depending on the area but it's almost never brought up in history classes or major documentaries
some guy probably: Puts nice green stone in the fire
green stone: melts and turns into a shiny redish metal
same guy: $$$
smelting still still seems mysterious as had to figure out how to make fires reach much higher temperatures than an ordinary fire for cooking or warmth - and then discover that some "rocks" melt when subjected to theses much more intense fires
@@TheSulross you probably never enjoyed the warmth of a proper fire. Here in Canada I've had nights around a camp fire we're the heat was enough to turn a iron poker red to Orange hot. No added charcoal, no special ventilation regular camp fire. A fire is definitely hot enough to melt copper and gold
@@TheSulross copper occurs in metallic form fairly frequently in nature, so you can discover copper without inventing smelting first. no fun-loving person needs a good reason to burn random stuff or try to make a really hot fire so, once people know the value of metal and start watching out for it more closely, eventually the techniques for smelting will be worked out.
The Copper Age must have been quite interesting maybe deadly but certainly not boring.
Yet the bronze age was the titan age of mankind.
Watch the story of Otzi the Iceman, who now they know was killed by an arrow to the back oh, it's a fascinating story that they've pieced together from exactly this time. 5300 years ago, the border between the copper and the Stone Age
@@zenolachance1181 They found him with both stone and copper tools. He had a bow with stoneheaded arrows, a stone knife and copper dagger and a copper axe.
@@genghiskhan6809 Stone knife copper axe
@@zenolachance1181 woops. Thx for correction
Not just for the algorithm: Great and very clear video. Including somehow Norte-Chico/Caral is fortunate. And I love that combination of maps and superimposed images.
Thank you :)
Glad you enjoyed it! :D
@@EpimetheusHistory please do one on pre Islamic arabia,gods ,tribes ,warefare
@@EpimetheusHistory abs
@@EpimetheusHistory
At 10:12, you refer to "blacksmiths" seeking to improve on arsenic bronze...of course, they didn't speak English, but a "blacksmith" works with iron, and eventually, steel: people who work with cast, forging and forming copper* are coppersmiths, just as Paul Revere was a smith, but not a blacksmith, as he worked with silver and pewter...(although his hands probably got pretty black!), silversmiths, and goldsmiths also specialize, as indicated...
Thank you so much for your super informative videos!! You are really helping people. Your videos were shown in my son's 7th grade social studies class last year and are a wonderful guide for my research as well.
Oh boy I have been waiting for a video on this subject for a long time. It’s good someone finally made a video about it.
"If you buy some, you can smash a penny with it" :D That is the funniest rant I heard about worthless zinc pennies.
Yay!!! I just was looking for a new video, and here it is!!! Thanks, Epimetheus!
Videos about Neolithic and Copper ages and how they influence Bronze age are super cool.
"Brought to you by Copper"
Me glancing over at my three pounds of the stuff: Neat.
Can I have some?
@
Epimetheus this channel is my favorite, because of videos like this one! keep up the grind my man!!!
From stone to the Copper age - like going from an iPhone 6 to a 12 - But one more thing - got something called Bronze for ya and we're working on something call iron. Your videos are excellent my friend!
Then this stuff called steel. Then this stuff called fiber carbon
You use Iphones to refer huge technological changes that improves people's life. But Iphone has been the same thing since Iphone 3 or 4, just sightly better camera and hardware and you pay the whole price again for just some small upgradings.
The only thing Apple have achieved since then is to convince people every new version of their products is a huge technological jump so the big money paid on these products is justified.
Even you lost the sound jack port, now you cant use third party headphones. LOL.
Love watching these videos over a meal, they're the perfect length.
I love your videos - all this long sweep of history with civilisational collapse shows that we still, even after COVID, take our civilisation for granted far more than we should and that lots of ancestors went through unimagineable horrors and kept persevering and as a result we are here.
It's baffling to think about how different life must have been all the way back then. And yet we can still experience many of the exact same emotions and sensations they must have felt. So distant yet so close.
And all this time later, life still sucks. I know, it sucks way less than it did back then but it still sucks nonetheless 😅
@Nohr Scum beautifully put
@@feynstein1004Blame the government, social structure need a upgrade.
@@smartcookie11 Hmm what do you mean?
@@smartcookie11Lol why are you so triggered, mate? I just wanted to hear what you had in mind
High school history be like: First there was the Stone Age, and that lasted like three generations. Then papyrus, then Rome then the Magna Carta and pretty much nothing in between.
With a final that's fifty questions like: 'The Bronze Age was known for the use of ____ in tools and weapons.'
(a) bronze
(b) rechargeable batteries
(c) lasers
(d) all of the above
Neither challenging nor interesting. Amazing our education became worse the more knowledge available to us.
Sometimes scrolls down to you shit
These days, I would not be surprised if that was an actual exam question.
*American high school history
@@eduardopupucon Not sure where this guy lives but in my history class we learned much more than that. We covered ancient greece, Fuedal Japan, the many Dynasties of China, the rise of Islam, the Ottoman Empire, and many more topics.
Your videos are worth to be put on physical disk. Thank you!
That's an interesting topic. Thanks for covering it, and good work, as usual.
Excellent video, thank you for producing this.
That was both 1 of the quickest n 1 of the best sponsorships I've ever heard.
It's an interesting time period. Great content
Nobody ever talks about the copper age! Props. Great video too.
Good to see you use the term _Copper Age_ . Too many historistians like to cover it up under the cute Rule of 3: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age. Everything fits neatly & History is the natural Progression of events.
to be honest tho, stone age is really just a side age because its stone, a rock. nothing much could be done and it should be classified as "the epilogue of hunter gathering" as people started to realize that farming and mining can be done, which brought about civilization which brought about science which did etc
@@Harsh-tf9he “We’ll be saying a big hello to all intelligent lifeforms everywhere and to everyone else out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys.”
@@Timberhawk lol
@@Timberhawk ah yes. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
You're channel is amazing, I'm recommending to our community of home-school families.
me and the boys patiently waiting for the next Epimetheus video.
I find the slow transition from nomadic to farming and using stone tools, to settling down, growing food and cities alike and realizing "hey, we need a ton of systems to keep track of all the new things this mass of people need" and literally inventing governments, writing and counting - "just" to say "hey, this is mine, because I traded this copper axe for 15 goats, and here is the clay token that proofs it"
Or being the fricking first human to smelt copper.
Wild wild times, I love it - beautiful video man.
Epimetheus:"progressing from stone to Copper to Bronze to Iron"
Great Lakes Copper Culture returning to Stone: Am I a joke to you?
I always wondered why the American Indians never improved their weapons. Maybe the same reason they didn’t improve their houses.
@michaelv1718 the copper was of high purity, they didn't have the need to smelt it.
The illustrations in this really helped my adhd process the information. Thanks!
Astoundingly good, dear Epi... Love your integreative intel mind, analysis & presentation styles. This is one of the key transition points in civilization, wonderfully elucidated. Jus sayin... ; D
Excellent vid. Narrator voice and enunciation are refreshingly hard to criticize. Moves at a nice clip too.
I loved your new animation style ❤️
First time the RUclips algorithm has put one of your videos in front of me. Really enjoyable video essay!
I never even knew there was a distinct copper age! This video is very well made!
My new favorite morning coffee video stream. Love your voice.
Wow you really sold me at the end with the smashing of the penny, guess I’m now an investor of the metal that clapped stone
This has become one of my favorite history channel. Really love all the art and drawings.
"...They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks...." - Isaiah 2:4
Beat your plowshares into swords
And your pruning hooks into spears;
Let the weak say, “I am a mighty man.”
- Joel 3:10
I was vaguely aware of copper as a raw material for decorative objects, tools and weapons at some time in history but I'd never encountered it as an 'Age' before. A highly instructive video, thanks.
Bro yessssss thanks for the upload
Underrated channel, love your vids!
There is something about your videos that help me remember more of the information I have learned before but commonly forget. Like dates , locations and names. Not sure if it’s your script details or just your voice.
You have a really serious/sober approach when summarizing this stuff that I really appreciate. No history channel vibes (which is good).
Thank you so much for these videos! I consider myself pretty informed when it comes to history but these times are like a giant black hole for me.
Great video, as always. I really appreciate the quality of your productions.
“Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late.”
- Thomas Sowell
Keep making great videos Epimetheus 👍🏽
Zeno the Filipino Lol i saw here on a video about some egyptian pharo too, its amazing how small the history community is
Thomas Sowell is ballin
@@maxalaintwo3578 The man really is a legend.
Glad to know you also watch Thomas Sowell's videos.
Really cool video, exactly what I have wanted to see for so many years. So grateful for this great presentation of information. ❤️
your videos are so creative, i really enjoy the unique visuals.
Excellent summary, subscribed 👍
3 minutes in and im subcribing. great presentation , easy to listen to .
:)
This ancient history documentary is a masterpiece! Perfect balance of education and entertainment.
This is the first animated history video that I’ve seen that wasn’t rubbish, and filled with childish jokes. There was quite a bit of information included, and the analysis was very well done.
The best jokes are childish.
@@yomomz3921 no the best jokes are funny.
@@evphex no the best jokes are
hey man, love the content. and i really like your voice! great, listenable voice over track.
This was really when civilisation began, too bad it's not discussed more often
perhaps even earlier at gobekli tepe
That we know of. This is far as archeology really can show us, as nearly all settlements everywhere in the world from earlier than this period are now underwater. Sea levels rise hundreds of feet circa 5600bc and as he states nearly all human civilization (then and now) was along coastlines or large rivers which may not exist today.
Well, the first cities and towns appeared in the Neolithic such as Chatalhoyuk and Jericho and all across the northern Levant/Mesopotamia.
@@seanbeadles7421 yes
Neolithic is the real when Civilization begin
RUclips asked if I liked this recommended video?
Yes and proceeds to check all the boxes.
I enjoy this ancient history ASMR.
Man I love your channel. Always listening to before going to sleep. Cheers
Stone- copper- bronze- iron - gunpowder- coal- oil-nuclear energy
Story of humanity
Nuclear can be divide between fission and fusion, which are actually incredibly different processes that interact with different fundamental forces. We are still really in the oil age, fission is not widely enough used and whilst weve know fussion for 70 years we dont know how to generate surplus power with it yet.
@@frenchguitarguy1091 agree
I'd rather think of our age as the plastic age.
I think that's wrong because stone/copper/bronze/iron are tool materials. Gunpowder is a weapons technology and coal/oil/nuclear energy is energy production.
Stone -> Copper -> Bronze -> Iron -> Steel -> Aluminum -> Silicon (most used material)
Sticks -> Dagger -> Phalanx -> Chariot -> Sword -> Cavalry -> Gunpowder -> Artillery -> Tanks -> Air Superiority -> Nukes (Peak weapons technology/war meta)
Human labor -> Animal labor -> Wood -> Hydro -> Wind -> Peat -> Coal -> Oil -> Nuclear Fission/Solar -> Nuclear Fusion (Energy generation)
@@joey199412 more like signature material of the period
Mastery over which guarantees a power status
I'm happy this video up here to my recommendations. A good introduction to your channel for me
The last mammoths went extinct at the end of the Copper age.
Any mammoths on mainland had already gone extinct at least two thousand years prior.
These mammoths survived on an arid island, off the coast of Siberia.
And could not make it back when the ice sheets melted. Due to warmer climates.
These mammoths also eventually perished but not directly due to climate change, but rather because of their extensive isolation for many many generations.
Their genetic structure became not sterile, but damaged because the gene pool was simply too small.
Stupid global warming 😤
I figured you were a mini gamer. Great vid!
Awesome ! 😎👍
Can we get a video about the scythians and the tribes of the Caucasus mountains ? 😇
that would be really interesting, caucasus is a clusterheck with different peoples and religions but I love it
History of Caucasus sounds very good.
A small region, small population, but an incredible diversity of languages and ethnicities.
@@DesertsOfHighfleet Indeed ! One interesting story I heard is the Vainakh Chechens are directed descendants of Scandinavian Vikings and that the Avar and Ingush people are descendants of the Scythians and Gokturks.
The Caucasus mountains is truly steeped in history and culture and was the arena of many wars between the Persian, Russian, Mongol, Ottoman, Byzantine and Arab empires.
Hail to the green eyed devil
Hail Scyth!
Proto-Indo-European time babyyyy
10:07 🤣🤣🤣 really loved that little animation to illustrate the point
Never buy copper from Ea-Nasir
One of the subtleties of moving from the copper age to the bronze age, was the mining of tin: just add molten tin to molten copper and you have bronze - so the difference between Copper Age and Bronze Age is quite clear, just find out when the mining of tin became substantial.
_"just add molten tin to molten copper and you have bronze"_
Doesn't take much tin, either. A little went a long way. Ah, the wonders of metallurgy.
@@AlbertaGeek Yup. But the difference between the Copper Age and Bronze Age was actually having the tin to add to the copper - it wasn't just a case of looking in the pantry and thinking, 'Ah, maybe I should add some tin to my copper'. They had to mine it and refine it first, and that means that the bronze age was an evolution of tin production, having first been in place. Great comment, though!!!
I really enjoyed this video. Thank you for making it
That was fantastic! I love every little detail including the cool gem-trees!
Thank you for your efforts!
So the fact that arsenic naturally hardens copper could be the reason that we discovered bronze? I was always wondering about that connection.
Truly a great video. Well researched, great animation and perfect voice over work!! 👍🥰
Magnificent Video, I hope a Copper Age total war game is made one day and a Stone Age total war game too.
Thank You. Your channel is truly a gem