Free Republic

...Why do the Greek descendants of the Minoans share a gene in their DNA with the Chippewas and no one else on the planet? In November of 1896, near the town of Newberry, Michigan. In Michigan's Upper Peninsula two woodsmen clearing land on a farm uprooted a tree and discovered three statues, and a clay tablet. The tablet was 19 by 26 inches in size. 140 small squares were cut into the stone. In each square a letter or character. The University of Michigan and the Smithsonian Institution were notified. Both of these institutions, at the time refused to look...

In a fascinating twist of ancient chemistry, copper-smelting artisans may have stumbled upon a technique that would eventually lead to the intentional extraction of iron from ore, a discovery that was both accidental and revolutionary.A fresh analysis of slag, ores, and furnace residues from the 3,000-year-old site of Kvemo Bolnisi, Georgia, is rewriting the story of how humankind first learned to make iron.A team of researchers from Cranfield University in England, reexamining old finds from Kvemo Bolnisi using modern techniques, suggests that what had once been labeled an early iron-smelting site was actually a copper workshop that utilized iron oxides...

Closeup image of an ancient wooden Egyptian falcon. Researchers have found a way to repoduce the blue pigment visible on the artifact, which is the world's oldest synthetic pigment. (Credit: Matt Unger, Carnegie Museum of Natural History) =============================================================== In a nutshell * Ancient Egyptian artisans developed precise, repeatable recipes to create four distinct shades of Egyptian blue, the world’s first synthetic pigment, long before the science of chemistry existed. * The pigment’s iconic blue color comes primarily from the mineral cuprorivaite, and researchers found that even samples with only 50% cuprorivaite could produce rich, vibrant blues. * Modern scientists recreated...

An Egyptian archaeological mission working at the Wadi Al-Nasb site in the southern Sinai Peninsula unearthed a major ancient metalworking center, according to a report by Ahram Online. Throughout Egyptian history, the region was known to be an essential source of copper and turquoise, but the new work uncovered facilities that suggest large-scale smelting and processing of copper ore also occurred on site as well before more refined products were shipped to the Nile Valley. The team discovered scores of copper ingots, crucibles, tuyere heads, and the foundations of a large workshop with smelting furnaces. While evidence shows that the...

On a warm spring day in 2019, researchers bored into the earth beneath Cairo's urban streets... Some 4,600 years earlier, as laborers constructed the Great Pyramid, the contemporary dig spot lay on the sandy floor of Khufu Harbor.In this ancient harbor—the world's oldest known port—researchers said they've identified the first major instance of human-induced metal contamination...The researchers used geochemical tracers to investigate metalworking activities around ancient Khufu Harbor. Located along a now defunct branch of the Nile near the Giza Plateau, the harbor was essential for transporting materials and was the site of a major copper toolmaking industry. These tools,...

... what about BONCUKLU TARLA? | Uncovering the real star of Middle Eastern archaeology. | 23:21The Prehistory Guys | 63.2K subscribers | 305,710 views | May 10, 2023

These prehistoric mines' ages were a "long-standing mystery," says David Pompeani, a geologist at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. Previous research used archaeological remnants to evaluate when mine sites were active, but later mining at the same sites often obliterated ancient artifacts, Pompeani says. To work around this, he and his colleagues took a different approach: instead of artifacts, they looked for signs of mining preserved in the environment.For a recent study in Anthropocene, the researchers examined sediments from two small inland lakes near ancient mines on Lake Superior's isolated Isle Royale in Michigan. Such sediments are affected by...

About 8500 years ago, hunter-gatherers living beside Eagle Lake in Wisconsin hammered out a conical, 10-centimeter-long projectile point made of pure copper. The finely crafted point, used to hunt big game, highlights a New World technological triumph—and a puzzle. A new study of that artifact and other traces of prehistoric mining concludes that what is known as the Old Copper Culture emerged, then mysteriously faded, far earlier than once thought. The dates show that early Native Americans were among the first people in the world to mine metal and fashion it into tools. They also suggest a regional climate shift...

The Shipping of Michigan Copper across the Atlantic in the Bronze Age (Isle Royale and Keweenaw Peninsula, c. 2400BC-1200 BC) Summary Recent scientific literature has come to the conclusion that the major source of the copper that swept through the European Bronze Age after 2500 BC is unknown. However, these studies claim that the 10 tons of copper oxhide ingots recovered from the late Bronze Age (1300 BC) Uluburun shipwreck off the coast of Turkey was “extraordinarily pure” (more than 99.5% pure), and that it was not the product of smelting from ore. The oxhides are all brittle “blister copper”,...

Researchers reveal how prehistoric Native Americans of Cahokia made copper artifactsEVANSTON, Ill. --- Northwestern University researchers ditched many of their high-tech tools and turned to large stones, fire and some old-fashioned elbow grease to recreate techniques used by Native American coppersmiths who lived more than 600 years ago. This prehistoric approach to metalworking was part of a metallurgical analysis of copper artifacts left behind by the Mississippians of the Cahokia Mounds, who lived in southeastern Illinois from 700 until 1400 A.D. The study was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science in May. The researchers were able to identify how...

...As part of this work, during the first field season was... the excavation of 2 pyramids and a part of a ballgame court, as well as several human burials that reveal changes in funerary patterns of ancient dwellers... Archaeologist Peter Jimenez, co director of El Teul Archaeological Project[:] "Finding the rests of the oven to melt copper is very important because it is the earliest found in Mexico and was used during Early Post Classic period, between 900 and 1200 of the Common Age", added the researcher at his lecture "Advances of the archaeological rescue at El Teul". He described...

An archaeological site in southeastern Europe has shown its metal. This ancient settlement contains the oldest securely dated evidence of copper making, from 7,000 years ago, and suggests that copper smelting may been invented in separate parts of Asia and Europe at that time rather than spreading from a single source. The find extends the known record of copper smelting by about 500 years, an archaeological team headed by Miljana Radivojevi¸ and Thilo Rehren of University College London reports in an upcoming Journal of Archaeological Science. The pair were joined by Serbian researchers, led by Dusan Âljivar of the National...

Science News Today reports that archaeologists excavating a Copper Age cemetery in western Iran recently noticed the unusual skull of a young woman among the burials. Her elongated and cone-shaped cranium clearly indicated that when she was younger, she had undergone some type of skull modification, a process that usually involves the binding of a child's head with cloth during their formative years. The report notes that for many cultures across the globe, from the Central American Maya to the Huns of Eurasia, cranial shaping was a symbol of beauty, status, or identity. In this case, the researchers believe, it...

The nearly complete skeleton, with severed feet and a pugio on the back, leaves the cause of death and burial a "real mystery." Archaeologists excavating a 4,900-year-old fortress in Almendralejo, southwestern Spain, have uncovered the burial of a man who may have been a Roman soldier. The solitary, shallow grave was discovered near one of the defensive ditches of the ancient fortress and contained the remains of a man between 25 and 35 years old, laid face down with a pugio—a Roman dagger—on his back. The dagger was found completely intact and still in its sheath. It has been dated...

Excavations at an ancient Iraqi site called Shakhi Kora have revealed new clues about the origins of the world's earliest governing institutions, according to research led by the University of Glasgow.The research published in the journal Antiquity today (Wednesday 4 December 2024) suggests these early governing institutions emerged partly from their ability to provide large-scale meals, potentially as payment for labour. However, the later abandonment of these centralised structures, without signs of violent overthrow or environmental stress, points to a deliberate rejection of centralised forms of organisation that likely involved increasing top-down control...Shakhi Kora is a Late Chalcolithic site in...

A 4,000-year-old copper dagger has been unearthed in northeastern Italy's Tina Jama Cave, according to a SciNews report. Federico Bernardini of Ca' Foscari University said that the dagger is similar to copper daggers uncovered in Slovenia. "The findings are essential for understanding the technological, cultural, and social transformations in Europe during that period," added Elena Leghissa of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences. "The discovery of the copper dagger is an exceptional event that raises questions about the cave's use," she added. A structure made of stone slabs and blocks between about 2000 and 1500 B.C. was also excavated near the...

A copper dagger more than 4,000 years old was found in a forest near the town of Jarosław on the San River in south-eastern Poland. This discovery is the oldest dagger made of metal found in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship.In the 3rd millennium BC, objects made of copper were extremely rare in the area, Dr Elżbieta Sieradzka-Burghardt, an archaeologist from the Jarosław museum, told PAP.This valuable object, dating back over 4,000 years, was discovered last November by Piotr Gorlach of the Jarosław Historical and Exploration Association, who – with the permission of the Podkarpacie Regional Historical Monument Conservator in Przemyśl –...

Serbian archaeologists say a 7,500-year-old copper axe found at a Balkan site shows the metal was used in the Balkans hundreds of years earlier than previously thought. The find near the Serbian town of Prokuplje shifts the timeline of the Copper Age and the Stone Age's neolithic period, archaeologist Julka Kuzmanovic-Cvetkovic told the independent Beta news agency. 'Until now, experts said that only stone was used in the Stone Age and that the Copper Age came a bit later. Our finds, however, confirm that metal was used some 500 to 800 years earlier,' she said. The Copper Age marks the...

One of the oldest copper fishhooks in the world was discovered during excavations in Ashkelon, southern Israel, the Israel Antiquity Authority (IAA) announced on Wednesday.The 6,000-year-old discovery was made in 2018 when the IAA carried out excavations prior to the construction of the Agamim neighborhood in Ashkelon. However, the find is only being presented to the public now; it will be exhibited for the first time at the 48th Archeological Congress on April 3, the IAA press release said."This unique find is 6.5 cm (2.5 inches) long and 4 cm (1.5 inches) wide, its large dimensions making it suitable for...

The Metsamor archaeological site is located near the village of Taronik, in the Armavir Province of Armenia, where the oldest trace of human settlement dates from the 4th millennium BC during the Copper Age.In the Bronze Age and Early Iron Ages, the site became an important religious and economic centre, developing into a city with many temples and sanctuaries, fortified by a citadel and cyclopean walls, and an advanced economy based on metallurgical production.Recent excavations have uncovered a sunken chamber framed by large stones, containing the remains of a wooden burial and two skeletons who died at the age of...