Download or read book A History of Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry, from Prehistory to the End of the Classical Period written by Robert W. Boyle and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2024-05-01 with total page 632 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since Mendeleev outlined the modern periodic table in 1869, many new uses have been found for the 92 naturally occurring elements. This book travels back in time to describe the utilization of materials familiar (gold, copper, iron) and arcane (arsenic, boron, red ochre) and their practical history (mining, metallurgy and crafts), with evidence from archaeology and geology. Together with the technological developments, author Robert Boyle portrays the advances in our understanding of materials science which led to modern geological and environmental sciences. It is a source book valuable to students of history and archaeology, mining and metallurgy, as well as to geologists, mineralogists and geochemists everywhere.