Roman metallurgy the most important being bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. Alloys are mixtures of different metals created either by smelting or by forging. It is important to note that an ore does not necessarily constitute an alloy; ore is a collection of minerals and alloyed metals. As metallurgical technology developed (hammering, melting, smelting, roasting, cupellation, moulding, smithing, etc.), more metals were intentionally included in the metallurgical repertoire. By the height of the Roman Empire, metals in use included: Gold, Silver, Copper, Tin, Lead, Zinc, Iron, Mercury, Arsenic, Antimony (Healy 1978). As in the Bronze Age, metals were used based
Alloy hardness. These metals were typically lead, antimony, bismuth or copper. These solutes were sometimes added individually in varying amounts, or added together, making a wide variety of objects, ranging from practical items such as dishes, surgical tools, candlesticks or funnels, to decorative items like ear rings and hair clips. The earliest examples of pewter come from ancient Egypt, around 1450 BC. The use of pewter was widespread across Europe, from France to Norway and Britain (where most of the ancient tin was mined) to the Near East. The alloy was also used in China and the Far East, arriving in