A glassified soil lump dating to approximately 11,000 years ago suggests hunter‐gatherers experimented with copper smelting well before the advent of agriculture.
Excavations that began in 2018 at the upper Tigris Valley site of Gre Fılla revealed stone‐built ritual structures dating from roughly 12,000 to 10,200 years ago during the Pre‐Pottery Neolithic period. A series of objects and fragments analyzed by methods including X‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy, flame atomic absorption spectroscopy and X‐ray diffraction yielded architectural structures, copper artifacts and vitrified materials. Among the finds was a rod‐shaped copper object accompanied by vitrified material containing small embedded copper droplets that indicated early pyrometallurgical activity.
Evidence from Gre Fılla indicated that its inhabitants engaged in metallurgical experiments as early as around 8,000 BCE, a timeline that challenged established chronologies. The findings also suggested that long‐distance trade networks existed, as the production and refinement of copper extended beyond local resources.
“Our analyses suggest that the copper was exposed to temperatures exceeding 1000 degrees Celsius, indicating a much more advanced control of fire than previously thought for this period,” said the researchers, according to a report by turkiyetoday.com. The high–temperature exposure implied that the ancient people exercised a level of fire control not typically attributed to societies of that era. Isotope analysis revealed that the copper in the rod–shaped artifact did not come from the nearby Ergani mines but originated from the Black Sea region, possibly from Trabzon or Artvin. The purity of the copper artifact suggested that it had undergone a refinement process, implying that the inhabitants developed techniques to improve metal quality.
Archaeologists had traditionally assigned copper metallurgy to the Chalcolithic period, around 4000 BCE, with the earliest evidence of copper smelting coming from Yumuktepe in Anatolia, dated to approximately 5000 BCE. The discoveries at Gre Fılla, including suggestions that hunter–gatherer societies in southeastern Anatolia worked with copper as early as 9000 years ago, challenged established timelines for technological development.
Further examination of vitrified material labeled GRE-VRF revealed a molten texture on one side and indentations on the other, suggesting that it experienced intense heat in contact with a container or structure. Chemical analysis identified traces of chromium- and iron-rich minerals characteristic of experimental metallurgical processes. The research implied that the transition from cold working of native copper to high–temperature smelting occurred gradually, as communities developed metallurgical practices based on environmental conditions and available resources.
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