HISTORICAL NOTE

Tin Smelting
globules formed. The slag was ground up
to free the globules, which were remelted
to produce tin ingots. So extensive was
this operation that more than 50,000 stone
tools have been found at the Goltepe site.
Details from this recent discovery provide
evidence that tin can be smelted in cru-
1 he influence of tin cibles at relatively low temperatures. We
can thus conclude that the technique may
on ancient civilization have been more widespread than previ-
ously thought.
cannot be overestimated. Ancient tin mines are also found in cen-
tral Germany, Cantabria in Spain,
Brittany in France, and Cornwall in
When alloyed with copper, tin forms The first use of tin in making bronze England. Spanish mines had been
bronze, a metal so important in the mak- (usually 5-10% tin in copper) probably worked since near the beginning of the
ing of weapons and implements that an occurred in the Near East in the 4th mil- Bronze Age, but those in England and
entire period of history (about 3000 to lennium B.C., although accidental alloy- France did not begin producing until
1100 B.C., depending on location) is ing of copper with tin impurities may around 500 B.C. Interestingly, examina-
named "the Bronze Age." have occurred before this. Early Egyptian tion of the ancient furnaces in England
Tin is a soft, silvery-white metal now copper implements contain as much as and Spain has revealed that these early
widely used in plating steel cans for food 2% tin, while early copper celts (axlike smelters managed to produce tin metal
containers; it is also found in solder and tools for dressing timbers) in Ireland con- that reached a purity of 99.9%.
metals used for bearings. Tin is malleable tain up to 1% tin. Both of these alloys are The Spanish mines fell into disuse not
and adaptable to rolling, extrusion, spin- probably accidental mixtures. long after the Cornwall mines began pro-
ning, and other kinds of cold-working. Its At the site of the city of Ur, bronze arti- ducing. After the Romans' conquest of
melting point (232°C) is low compared cles dating from about 3500 B.C. have Britain in 55 B.C., they had access to the
with common structural metals; its boil- been found. In Iran, bronze weapons, Cornwall tin mines. Despite their large
ing point (2603°C), however, is high. The ornaments, tools, and chariot fittings dat- output, objects of tin are rarely found
interval between these two temperatures ing from as early as 3000 B.C. have been among Greek or Roman artifacts because
is greater than for most other metals, found. this metal is easily recycled.
which means that loss by volatilization As a metal, bronze is harder and more Much later, in the 8th and 9th centuries,
from a liquid melt or during alloying is easily cast in molds than pure copper. It Arabian writers described the East Indies
insignificant. was therefore preferred for the manufac- and the Malay states as new sources of
Tin's chemical symbol, Sn, is derived ture of tools, weapons, and ornaments. tin. Other mines opened up in Saxony
from the Latin term stannum, which origi- For thousands of years, tin bronze proved and Bohemia in the 12th century, but the
nally denoted an alloy of lead and silver. to be the best metal available for a wide Thirty Years War (1618-1648) destroyed
However, an imitation of this silver-lead variety of uses until it was superseded by this industry.
alloy could be made substituting about iron. Bronze was not superseded as a cor- Since tin is expensive, it is found chiefly
67% tin. This imitation proved so popular rosion-resistant alloy until the introduc- in applications where it can be used spar- j
that by the 4th century A.D., stannum had tion of stainless steel in this century. ingly and when other metals will not suf- i
come to mean tin. Copper was widely available in the fice. Today, about 40% of all tin produced I
Tin exists in two common allotropes, or ancient world, but tin was more difficult is used as an electroplated coating on
forms—white tin (also called beta tin) and to come by. A recently excavated Early steel food containers—"tin cans." These
gray tin (or alpha tin), also called "tin Bronze Age tin mine in Turkey has tin coatings are extremely corrosion resis-
pest." Gray tin is powdery and of little revealed details of early production dat- tant in vacuum packs, attractive in
use, but through a kinetic crystalline ing from 2870 B.C. that served the Near appearance, tarnish resistant in air, and
transformation, gradually changes to East's demand for tin to manufacture completely nontoxic.
white tin at temperatures above 13.2°C. bronze. This new site, called Kestel, has
This transformation occurs particularly underground mining shafts that run for KEVIN J. ANDERSON
rapidly above 100°C. The undesirable more than two miles. The shafts are only
reverse transformation—white tin gradu- about two feet wide, implying that chil- FOR FURTHER READING: "Third Millennium
ally degenerating into gray tin—can occur dren performed the mining chores. B.C. Tin Processing Debris from Goltepe
at temperatures below 13.2°C, but is pre- Apparently, the miners lit fires beside (Anatolia)" by Pamela Vandiver,
vented by small additions of lead, copper, veins of tin ore, or cassiterite (the most K. Aslihan Yener, and Leopold May, in
silver, gold, bismuth, or antimony. common oxide ore of tin), to crack the Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 267,
Aristotle had described gray tin in the host rock, then dug out the ore with stone 1992, p. 545-569. "Bronze Age Tin Mine
4th century B.C. Coming to the 1st centu- implements. It has been suggested that Found in Turkey," Science News 145
ry A.D., Roman historian Pliny men- this single mine produced up to 1,000 (1994) p. 46. "Kestel: An Early Bronze
tioned the use of a lead-tin alloy—sol- tons of ore during its period of operation. Age Source of Tin Ore in the Taurus
der—for joining metals. The Romans also The ore was processed into tin metal in Mountains, Turkey" by K. Aslihan Yener,
produced eating utensils and other arti- the nearby village of Goltepe. The ore Hadi Ozbal, Ergun Kaptan, A. Necip
cles of copper coated with tin, which is was ground up, then heated in covered Pehlivan, and Martha Goodway, Science
nontoxic. crucibles until slag that contained tin 244 (April 14,1989) p. 200-203.

72 MRS BULLETIN/JULY 1994