Excavation of the ruins at a Bronze Age archaeological settlement of Metsamor in central Armenia has revealed a very large metal industry including a foundry with 2 kinds of blast furnaces. The foundry is known to have extracted and processed gold, copper, and several types of manganese, zinc, strychnine, mercury, and iron. Several huge underground caves were uncovered that are thought to have been storehouses for base metal. The first iron in the ancient world was probably forged here, though it was not as commonly forged as bronze. Metal from the foundries of Metsamor found their way to Egypt, Central Asia and China.

History of Metallurgy

Metsamor