Quatre mille ans d'histoire du cuivre Fragments d'une suite de rebonds

Today copper and copper-based alloys are in everyday use by all women and all men, with hardly any noticeable exception to this rule. From a protohistoric axe to electrical conductors and connectors, those metallic materials constitute parts of simple or complex tools. Without copper there is no Digital Age. From a Bronze Age sword to the cannons of the beginning of the industrial era, to ammunition cartridge cases, copper has played a strategic role in war. Because they sparkle or look like gold, bronze and brass, along with precious metals, have forever been widely used to beautify human bodies; through diverse artefacts used in cultural practices, they contribute to exchanges with gods; they also adorn urban space… In a nutshell, copper is everywhere!

This collective book constitutes a study of the many diverse uses of copper – not of the origins of metallurgy. It underlines continuities that allowed copper to come back in the course of forty centuries. Crossing the views of researchers coming from archaeology, practice, industry and history, allows also some reflections about art and economy; a large field of human sciences is then explored.