History of chemistry.

The history of chemistry represents a time span from ancient history to the present. By 1000 BC,
civilizations used technologies that would eventually form the basis of the various branches of
chemistry. Examples include the discovery of fire, extracting metals from ores, making pottery and
glazes, fermenting beer and wine, extracting chemicals from plants for medicine and perfume, rendering
fat into soap, making glass, and making alloys like bronze.

The protoscience of chemistry, alchemy, was unsuccessful in explaining the nature of matter and its
transformations. However, by performing experiments and recording the results, alchemists set the
stage for modern chemistry. While both alchemy and chemistry are concerned with matter and its
transformations, chemists are seen as applying scientific method to their work.

The history of chemistry is intertwined with the history of thermodynamics, especially through the work
of Willard Gibbs.

Ancient history

Early humans:

A 100,000-year-old ochre-processing workshop was found at Blombos Cave in South Africa. It indicates
that early humans had an elementary knowledge of chemistry. Paintings drawn by early humans
consisting of early humans mixing animal blood with other liquids found on cave walls also indicate a
small knowledge of chemistry.

Early metallurgy:

Main articles: Ferrous metallurgy and History of metallurgy in the Indian subcontinent

The earliest recorded metal employed by humans seems to be gold, which can be found free or "native".
Small amounts of natural gold have been found in Spanish caves used during the late Paleolithic period,
around 40,000 BC.

Silver, copper, tin and meteoric iron can also be found native, allowing a limited amount of
metalworking in ancient cultures.[5] Egyptian weapons made from meteoric iron in about 3000 BC were
highly prized as "daggers from Heaven".

Arguably the first chemical reaction used in a controlled manner was fire. However, for millennia fire
was seen simply as a mystical force that could transform one substance into another (burning wood, or
boiling water) while producing heat and light. Fire affected many aspects of early societies. These ranged
from the simplest facets of everyday life, such as cooking and habitat heating and lighting, to more
advanced uses, such as making pottery and bricks and melting of metals to make tools.

It was fire that led to the discovery of glass and the purification of metals; this was followed by the rise
of metallurgy. During the early stages of metallurgy, methods of purification of metals were sought, and
gold, known in ancient Egypt as early as 2900 BC, became a precious metal.