"There are at least two major sources of native copper in the Near East; one in central Iran near Anarek, the other in central Anatolia, Turkey. Native copper could be hammered into shapes without any knowledge of smelting or refining, so was the first use of the metal by ancients. It was very rare and thus very special. Copper ore was first discovered, it is generally believed, in north-western Iran or in the Caucasus, and was perhaps originally obtained from Azerbaijan or Armenia. Soon, however, were found alternative sources of supplies, such as Anatolia (which later produced iron), Cyprus and the country which has been tentatively identified with the mountainous part of Oman. "
You're welcome...you know I love this stuff, lol.
Now, about the Olmec, they are an enignamatic bunch. I've posted pictures of statues salvaged from some Olmec sites and some have clearly Caucasian features and one that looked like a Jewish Rabi along with the Asian looking ones .
The tree rings recorded a worldwide catastrophic event around the time of the Shang Dynasty collapse, 1159BC. That event may have put a lot of different people 'to sea' and they all merged to become the Olmec, we may never know for sure.