A chronological review in non-technical terms of the amazing developments in metalworking techniques in various parts of the Western Hemisphere beginning with the Old Copper culture, ca. 4000 B. C., and ending with European contacts in the sixteenth century. The regional discussion includes the eastern Arctic, the Upper Great Lakes, Hopewell, Etowah, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and northwest Argentina. Good illustrations but no bibliography. The author can find no concrete and persuasive evidence to support either diffusion through transPacific contacts on the one hand or independent invention on the -- AATA