One the world's oldest metal Foundries- 5000 BC..Metsamor Armenia
I didn't know about this amazing relatively unexplored site, this is also in the Turkey, Armenian area where the real ancient advances happened.. This site has other amazing things going on besides metalurgy
SNIP...
Metallurgy - The excavation has uncovered a large metal industry, including a foundry with 2 kinds of blast furnaces (brick and in-ground). Metal processing at Metsamor was among the most sophisticated of its kind at that time: the foundry extracted and processed high-grade gold, copper, several types of bronze, manganese, zinc, strychnine, mercury and iron. Metsamor’s processed metal was coveted by all nearby cultures, and found its way to Egypt, Central Asia and China. The iron smelting process was not advanced in Metsamor, probably due to the vast quantities of pure bronze alloys at hand, and Metsamor primarily mined and sold iron ore to neighbouring cultures which took better advantage of its properties.
The Foundry - The foundry dates from the Early Bronze Age (ca. 4,000 BC) though recent digs in the area uncovered signs of metal processing as early as 5,000 BC. The complex of smelting furnaces and moulds date from the mid Bronze to Early Iron Age (3,000-2,000 BC). The complex becomes more astounding the more you walk through it. Several huge underground caves were uncovered that are thought to have been storehouses for base metal, as well as a granaries for winter months. Stretching just below and around the Upper Citadel, the foundries processed Copper, Bronze, Iron, Mercury, Manganese, Strychnine, Zinc and gold. The first iron in the ancient world was probably forged here, though it was not considered as important as bronze, giving the jump on development to the Babylonians.
http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/turkeymetsamor.htm
the Wikipedia page has maybe two sentences on this place.
Melting points of various metals found there
Melting Points
Metal Fahrenheit (f) Celsius (c)
Aluminum 1218 659
Brass 1700 927
Bronze 1675 913
Cast Iron 2200 1204
Copper 1981 1083
Gold 1945 1063
Lead 327 163
Magnesium1204 651
Nickel 2646 1452
Silver 1761 951
Steel 2500 1371
Tungsten 6150 3399
Wrought Iron 2700 1482
Zinc 787 419
This isn't just campfires tech and don't forget you have to have a container to put the molten metal in.
