Minerals & Man...

Steven H. Schimmrich (ss6349@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu)
24 Jul 1995 15:18:36 GMT

My advisor and I are developing some material for teaching undergraduates
about general geology and we would like to know the answer to a couple of
questions. We were hoping that someone might be able to point us toward
some references (feel free to reply via posting or e-mail)...

1. When and where did humans first clearly begin fashioning rocks into
tools? What type of rocks were generally used (e.g. basalt, quartzite,
obsidian, random stream cobbles, etc.)?

2. When and where did humans first use minerals (e.g. gold, gemstones,
quartz crystals, etc.) as jewelry or other objects of art? We would
like to know when humans first started looking at minerals as aesthetic
objects.

3. When and where did humans first systematically mine minerals (e.g
copper, flint, etc.)?

4. When and where did the first trade routes develop for minerals or
objects made from minerals (e.g. copper, arrowheads, etc.).

Answers without specific references to journals articles or books written
by acknowledged experts won't really help me since this information must be
verifiable.

Thanks.

--

      Steven H. Schimmrich           schimmri@hercules.geology.uiuc.edu

      Department of Geology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

         245 Natural History Building, Urbana, IL 61801  (217) 244-1246

      Callsign KB9LCG       http://hercules.geology.uiuc.edu/~schimmri/