As far back as five thousand years ago, people found meteoritic iron, a kind of meteoric rock that fell from the sky, suitable for blacksmithing and hard enough to make sharp and firm tools. This was when the human race first began to use iron. For the ancient Egyptians, iron was more valuable than gold. They called iron “the metal of heaven,” a proof that iron was very important. Nowadays, modern technology has made it possible to turn iron into more malleable yet harder steel, a material commonly found in everything from automobiles, computer casings, rice cookers or steamers, railways, and the skeleton frames of high-rise buildings.