Imagine how an early human must have felt upon seeing an object made from a yet unknown material—for example, an axe made from metal! That must have made a very big impression, because until then, apart from stone, wood and horn, very few solid materials were known. Four thousand years ago, when contacts with southern neighbours had already been established, the first metal objects arrived in the territory of Lithuania via trade routes. Our ancestors would exchange amber, wax and animal hides for such objects. During the next several centuries, local masters learned how to process copper alloys and tried doing so themselves. From that time, they began to trade artefacts with their neighbours from Scandinavia to the Caucasus region.