Copper is one of the first metals that people began to work with around 5000 BC, during the so-called copper era (Chalcolithic period), when there was a radical transition from primitive stone technologies of the Neolithic to bronze. For millennia, copper has been the main engine of the global economy. The most common prehistoric metal artifacts made from copper alloys still amaze archaeologists today.
1. Lost Copper Scroll Treasure
On March 14, 1952, an archaeologist discovered a mysterious copper scroll that contrasted sharply with all the other Dead Sea scrolls found earlier in the Qumran caves. The material of the scroll, its author, script, language and style suggests that it entered Cave # 3 at a different time than the other 14 scrolls made of parchment and papyrus. According to Professor Richard Freund, "The Copper Scroll is probably the most unique, most important and least understood of the Dead Sea Scrolls."
In 1955, unable to unfold a rusted scroll, researchers had to break apart a priceless artifact in order to gain access to its contents. The language in this scroll bears little resemblance to that in which the other Dead Sea Scrolls are written. Copper scroll, dated 25-100 AD AD, contains a list of 64 places to find fabulous treasures. It mentions huge caches of gold, silver, priestly clothes, etc. worth over a billion dollars at today's prices.
2. Andean mask
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In 2005, the inhabitants of La Quebrada in the Argentine Andes discovered an ancient copper mask that essentially forced the history of metallurgy in pre-Columbian South America to be redefined. The copper mask found in a mass grave dates from about 1414 - 1087 BC. The mask is 18 cm high, 15 cm wide and 1 mm thick with holes for the mouth, nose and eyes.
It was attached to the face with additional holes along the edge of the mask. Archaeologists believe the ore for this 3,000-year-old death mask was mined in the Hualfin Valley, which is 69 km from the find. Currently, a large copper mine is located in this valley in the province of Catamarca.
3. Copper of the Atlanteans
In March 2015, marine archaeologists announced the discovery of 39 bars of "Atlantic" copper in a shipwreck near Sicily. According to Plato, the metal "orichalcum" was a reddish variety of copper, and was considered no less valuable than gold. The Atlanteans allegedly used it to give the Temple of Poseidon its otherworldly glow. People have long discussed the possible composition of this alloy. Most modern scientists believe that it was an alloy of bronze with zinc, charcoal and copper.
Others believe that the orichalcum was made from amber. Sadly, there was nothing mythical about the metal found on the 2,600-year-old Greek ship. Copper was probably supplied from Cyprus. From the fourth millennium BC. Cypriot metallurgists produced several varieties of copper, including its alloy with zinc and trace amounts of iron and nickel. Given the durability and tarnish resistance of this alloy, it was highly prized in jewelry making. To this day, Greek-speaking Cypriots still refer to copper as Orichalcum.
4. Trade in blades
In 2016, archaeologists announced that ancient bronze instruments in Sweden contain Mediterranean copper. These 3,600-year-old instruments are evidence of distant trade in the Bronze Age. Probably, the Scandinavians traded their precious amber, which was valued at the level of gold, exchanging it for copper. Isotopic analysis showed that the metal came from Cyprus, Sicily, Sardinia and the Iberian Peninsula.
Researchers believe that these southern sources of metals did not serve as the basis of Scandinavian metallurgy, but rather represented an "addition" to local sources. Archaeologists now believe they have discovered images of Mediterranean ships in Bronze Age Swedish rock art. Interestingly, images of ships are almost always accompanied by images of large bulls, which was also characteristic of the ancient paintings of the Hittites and Minoans. Similar images are also found on the territory of modern southern Turkey.
5. Copper plaque from the lagoon
In 1989, a man digging sand from the bottom of the Lumbang River discovered the oldest known written document in the Philippines. Dating back to 900 AD a copper plaque measuring 20 by 30 centimeters was completely covered with text in an unknown language. The person who found it sold the brass plaque to an antique dealer. Only then did the ancient document catch the attention of researchers.
In 1992, the Dutch anthropologist Antoon Postma deciphered the inscription, which was made in a combination of the ancient Kawi language and the old Malay language developed in Java. Scholars have long believed that the Philippines in the 10th century was culturally isolated from the rest of Asia. The inscription on the brass plaque casts doubt on this concept, as it indicates foreign influence in the region.
6. Copper Chatal Huyuk
It turns out that people know a lot less about the origin of copper melting than originally thought. For decades, archaeologists believed that the 8,500-year-old Turkish settlement of Chatal Huyuk was the oldest copper production site in the world. For more than four decades, traces of slag, a by-product of copper smelting, have been found throughout the site. However, it turns out that the Catal Huyuk copper may have been created by accident.
According to scientists at the University of Cambridge, this means that the copper firing occurred unintentionally and accidentally. What's more, the researchers found that some of what was originally thought to be slag was actually burnt dye. Researchers now believe that copper was "invented" independently around the world.
7. Ax Ötzi
In 1991, tourists discovered the Ötzi ice mummy in a glacier in the Ötztal Alps on the Italian-Austrian border. 5300 years ago in the copper era, Ötzi was killed by an arrow in the back. In July 2017, researchers made an amazing discovery. Otzi's copper ax was imported from elsewhere. Isotopic analysis of the blade revealed that the copper used in the world's oldest surviving Neolithic ax came from southern Tuscany, hinting at vast networks of prehistoric trade.
It is not known whether the finished blade was imported from the south, or only copper ore was brought, from which the ax was forged. Interestingly, during that period, copper was also mined in the Alps. Why Ötzi preferred Tuscan copper to local copper remains a mystery.
8. Ancient Egyptian ink
In November 2017, researchers published an article in the journal Nature revealing the secret ingredient in ancient Egyptian ink: copper. A team from Copenhagen University analyzed papyri from the 2nd century BC. - III century AD All inks from these samples contained copper. This is the first time copper-based ink has been found in ancient Egypt. The samples show no significant difference, regardless of where and when the papyrus was made. This suggests that ink technologies have been unchanged for at least 300 years.
The starting material was probably a by-product of metallurgy. Egyptian Blue is a legendary pigment created using the by-products of copper metallurgy. Also known as calcium copper silicate, it is the oldest known artificial pigment. When and where copper ink originally appeared in Egypt remains a mystery.
9. Copper cocoons
In 1997, in Siberia, archaeologists discovered a 13th-century necropolis containing mummies wrapped in copper cocoons from head to toe. More than a dozen naturally preserved mummies were found in 34 graves of Zeleny Yar. More recently, in 2015, researchers discovered the remains of the first known woman in this necropolis and a baby. Both were buried in burial cocoons made of birch bark and fur. The child was covered in the remains of a broken copper pot, and the adult woman was encased in copper plates.
Today, almost nothing is known about the mysterious culture that built Zeleny Yar. The feet of all the mummies in the necropolis point to the nearby Gorny Poluy River. The skulls of many of the men were broken, suggesting the ritual significance of the burial. Copper bowlers dating from the tenth and eleventh centuries that were found at Zeleny Yar may have been produced in Persia. The find suggests that this seemingly highly isolated settlement was actually a crossroads of cultures.
10. Ancient jewelry
In December 2017, a team of researchers from the UK and Serbia announced that aesthetics played a key role in the development of copper alloys. The group developed a color chart for alloys consisting of copper, tin and arsenic to reveal the original composition of these ancient copper alloys (today, the components used in prehistoric copper alloys are largely unknown).
Copper has lost its visual appeal after so many years underground. The researchers were surprised to find that it was similar to modern jewelry technology, which uses similar color schemes for gold, copper and silver alloys. Researchers believe that the golden hue of the ancient Balkan bronze appeared due to the high demand for gold in the region.