According to John Sorenson, brass is an "alloyed metal," usually intentionally made by mixing copper and zinc, yet sometimes the alloy results from smelting ore which naturally contains both copper and zinc, hence mention of "brass" objects does not necessarily imply a sophisticated development of metallurgy among the Jaredites" but perhaps only a modest knowledge. The Book of Mormon text says almost nothing about metallurgical techniques, and what is said need not be interpreted as involving particularly complex operations. Consider the case of Peru, whose museums display abundant metal artifacts, yet Bray emphasizes the "rudimentary nature" of the equipment and methods involved.
Earle R. Caley and Dudley T. Easby, Jr. state that "Direct archaeological evidence of smelting operations is rare in pre-Conquest Peru and unknown in Mexico for all practical purposes." But that does not mean there were no smelting operations--quite surely there were. While it is true that complex technological processes generally leave traces in the archaeological record, in reality little useful information has been recovered so far by Mesoamerican archaeologists about most "complex processes," not just metals. How stone monument carving, textile manufacturing and dyeing, wood carving, jewelry crafting and many other processes were conceived and performed is known only imperfectly, and virtually never by the discovery or excavation of workshop sites. [John L. Sorenson, "Viva Zapato! Hurray for the Shoe! in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 6, Num. 1, pp. 322-323] [See the commentary on Helaman 6:11]