Arsenical bronze

Arsenical bronze (or arsenical copper) is an alloy in which arsenic is added to copper as opposed to, or in addition to other constituent metals. The use of arsenic in bronze, either as the secondary constituent or with another component such as tin, results in a stronger final product.

Since copper ore is often naturally contaminated with arsenic, the term "arsenical bronze" is typically only applied to alloys which contain enough arsenic (exceeding 2-3%) to suggest its intentional inclusion. [Jordan, David K. "Ancient Metallurgy." 20 Mar. 2006. UCSD. Retrieved 27 Jun. 2006. [http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/arch/metallurgy.html] ]

Because it is harder than unmixed copper, arsenical bronze was used for weapons and tools during the early Bronze Age; for example, it has been found in artifacts from the Fertile Crescent [An overview of Mesopotamian bronze metallurgy during the 3rd millennium BC, I. De Ryck, A.Adriaens, F.Adams [http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=12&url=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.ugent.be%2Fretrieve%2F2650%2FJournalCulturalHeritageDeRyck2005.pdf&ei=aSAmRtyOCYz00QTtysndBQ&usg=__Q9eEoYVoi4vVBu0ktuJyIeq_9sg=&sig2=X4K7mmOCTvOlnco5emllWw] ] which date back to the fourth and third millennia BCE. It was likely used because tin (a common component of bronze) was rare in many regions and had to be imported.

It has been suggested that the reason that smith-gods of various cultures (such as the Greek and Roman gods Hephaestus and Vulcan, but also including African and Scandinavian gods) were depicted as being lame is that muscular atrophy and loss of reflexes are indicative of chronic arsenic poisoning. Saggs, H. W. F. Civilization Before Greece and Rome, pp. 200-2001. New Haven Yale University Press, 1989]

References