Silver
Plata (Ag, Z=47)
- Date
- c. 3000 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Anatolia and Mesopotamia
- Credited to
- Unknown (antiquity)
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Obtained by cupellation of argentiferous lead ores from the 4th millennium BCE in Anatolia; used as currency and ornament by every ancient civilisation.
An element known since antiquity; the date is approximate.
What it led to
- Coinage and the silver standard
- Photography with silver halides
- Mirrors, electronics and antimicrobials
Built on
- Lead metallurgy
- Cupellation furnaces