Introduction

The place is Africa, the time: 2.6 Million years ago (M.a.). Our ancestors, the Great Apes or Homo habilis, learned how to use rocks as tools to hunt, extract, crush or tear apart the meat or the hard plant substances they gathered. The period that ranges from 2.6 M.a to 3000 B.C. is called the paleolithic, paleo = antique; lithos= stone. Indeed, the relationship between humans and rocks is very ancient. Rocks helped our kind survive. Rocky shelters and caves provided warmth and their walls served as a canvas to pictorial representations, the petroglyphs. We used minerals as paints for pigments for their dazzling colors and ingesting clay minerals and soils supplemented our diets or guarded us from phyto-toxins. Many things have changed since our humble origins, but our dependency on Earth’s mineral resources is not one of them. In this chapter, we will study mineral resources that shape civilizations, drive human exploration, and inspire human endeavors that include art, literature, and science.