[ApplegateRanch]

When forging the swords, arsenic was used as a deliberate alloying element in order to change the properties of copper and produce a stronger metal.

I wonder about the "deliberate"part?

Does he mean they actually cooked off & collected arsenic to add in measured amounts back into the fairly pure molten copper?

Or, does he mean they deliberately smelted their copper from a more/less constant mixture of copper (or other metallic) arsenates/arsenides and other copper ores? Trial & error blending of ores, noting empirical differences, then sticking to 1 part reddish rock to 5 parts shiny rock, etc?

Either way, the alloying and the inlaying speak to a long history of painfully learned craftsmanship prior to the making of these blades & points.

[blam]

"Either way, the alloying and the inlaying speak to a long history of painfully learned craftsmanship prior to the making of these blades & points."

Yup, the 'mad-hatters' comes to mind.

[Question_Assumptions]

Arsenic bronze was fairly common before tin bronze became widespread. Some people suggest that the lame metal-working gods of some mythologies (e.g., Vulcan) are holdovers from an age when metal-workers worked with arsenic, which damaged their health.