metallurgy
MET-uh-lur-jee
Definition
The science and technology of extracting metals from their ores and processing them into useful forms, such as tools or weapons.
Etymology
Derived from the Greek word 'metallon' (mine or metal) and '-urgy' (a suffix denoting a work or process), the word entered English in the late 18th century to describe the scientific study of metals.
In the news
The article uses this term to clarify that the existence of Ötzi's pure copper axe did not prove that Copper Age Europeans had invented the technology of metallurgy, but rather that such processes were already established.
In 1991, two hikers in the Ötztal Alps found a body sticking out of the melting ice and assumed it was a recent climber, but the corpse turned out to be a 5,300-year-old man with an arrowhead in his shoulder, 61 tattoos, and a 99.7%-pure copper axe whose met
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