Silver processing | Britannica
Silver was discovered after gold and copper about 4000 bce, when it was used in jewelry and as a medium of exchange. The earliest known workings of significant size were those of the preHittites of Cappadocia in eastern Anatolia. Silver is generally found in the combined state in nature, usually in copper or lead mineralization, and by 2000 bce mining and smelting of silverbearing lead ores was under way