Copper was probably the first metal mined and crafted by humans. It was originally obtained as a native metal and later from the smelting of ores. Earliest estimates of the discovery of copper suggest around 9000 BC in the Middle East. It was one of the most important materials to humans throughout the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages. Copper beads dating from 6000 BC have been found in Çatalhöyük, Anatolia and the archaeological site of Belovode on the Rudnik mountain in Serbia contains the world's oldest securely dated evidence of copper smelting from 5000 BC. It was recognised as an element by Louis Guyton de Morveau,  Antoine Lavoisier, Claude Berthollet, and Antoine-François de Fourcroy in 1787.
It is believed that lead smelting began at least 9,000 years ago, and the oldest known artifact of lead is a statuette found at the temple of Osiris on the site of Abydos dated around 3800 BC. It was recognised as an element by Guyton de Morveau, Lavoisier, Berthollet, and Fourcroy in 1787.
The earliest gold artifacts were discovered at the site of Wadi Qana in the Levant. Silver is estimated to have been discovered in Asia Minor shortly after copper and gold.
There is evidence that iron was known from before 5000 BC. The oldest known iron objects used by humans are some beads of meteoric iron, made in Egypt in about 4000 BC. The discovery of smelting around 3000 BC led to the start of the Iron Age around 1200 BC and the prominent use of iron for tools and weapons. It was recognised as an element by Guyton de Morveau, Lavoisier, Berthollet, and Fourcroy in 1787.
Tin was first smelted in combination with copper around 3500 BC to produce bronze (and thus giving place to the Bronze Age (except in some places which did not experience a significant Bronze Age, passing directly from the Neolithic Stone Age to the Iron Age)). Kestel, in southern Turkey, is the site of an ancient Cassiterite mine that was used from 3250 to 1800 BC. The oldest artifacts date from around 2000 BC. It was recognised as an element by Guyton de Morveau, Lavoisier, Berthollet, and Fourcroy in 1787.