It is truly astonishing what the ancients accomplished in metallurgy just by trial, error, and guesswork. Documenting and analyzing results was probably almost non-existent.
Alloys are amazing mixtures where just a tiny amount of alloying material radically changing the properties of the alloy. In this arsenical bronze, adding 0.5 - 2 wt% Arsenic results in a 10 - 30% improvement in hardness and tensile strength.
“It is truly astonishing what the ancients accomplished in metallurgy just by trial, error, and guesswork.”
Well, they didn’t have their noses in smartphones, so they probably had a lot of time on their hands.