Gold (native), 2nd millennium BC, South America.
Image courtesy of Mark Aldenderfer, PNAS (Copyright 2008).
The earliest known gold working in South America is at the Jiskairumoko site, where a gold-and-turquoise bead necklace was recovered from a grave dated between 2155-1936 BC.
Iron, early to late 2nd millennium BC, Anatolia
The bloomery process of iron smelting was first used in Anatolia, beginning about 1800 BC, and was in use by elite Hittites between 1400-1200 BC; and it shows up in China by the ninth or eight centures BC.
