This book arose from the conference Metallurgy: A Touchstone for Cross-cultural Interaction which took place at the British Museum. The papers largely relate to mining and extractive metallurgy. The inception and nature of the first smelting technologies of copper and tin in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa, and of zinc in China and iron in Africa, the Middle East and Britain are discussed together with insights into the archaeology and experimental replication of the processes.