Amazing stuff! Maybe the Stone Age was not so stony at all. Give our ancestors some credit! They were experimenting and getting ready for the next stage. 😊
"Guinness World Records recognizes as the world’s oldest written customer complaint a 3700-year-old clay tablet accusing the Mesopotamian trader Ea-nāṣir of peddling crappy copper. No complaints about the copper from the Anatolian archaeological site known as Gre Filla, though. Here, a team of scientists reports evidence of what may be some of the earliest experiments with smelting copper.
In a sedimentary layer dating to around 8800 B.C.E., archaeologists unearthed an amorphous, glasslike lump of soil with a greenish yellow sheen and a ruddy bottom. Weighing about half a kilogram, it looked like it had melted on one side. In the same layer, they found a copper bar. When the researchers analyzed the artifacts’ chemical composition, they found evidence that the copper-flecked soil had been heated at high temperatures, then rapidly cooled—a sign of smelting. The copper bar had a porous structure that suggested it may have been formed from smelted metal.
While the scientists can’t say for sure if the people here were smelting copper—they haven’t found smoking-gun evidence like slag or a furnace—other experts say it’s a definite possibility. And it would suggest the hunter-gatherers who lived in the region were experimenting with metallurgy long before they adopted agriculture and built cities—and long before Ea-nāṣir received his historic one-star review."
"... In Europe, the oldest definitive evidence of smelting comes from Serbia around 5000 B.C.E. ..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• Gre Fılla appears to have been a location where key metallurgical principles—such as controlled heating, casting, and potential ore processing—were actively explored.
• Vitrified material (GRE-VRF) shows signs of high-temperature exposure, as evidenced by high-temperature mineral phases, FTIR/XRD transformations, and microstructural features indicating rapid cooling.
• Chromite grains and copper droplets in GRE-VRF support its relation to copper processing.
• Chromite inclusions and porosity in the bar-shaped copper object (GRE-C-002) strengthen the link to copper production at Gre Fılla.
• Lead isotope analysis of the GRE-C-002 reveals long-distance connections, with Trabzon as the source.
Abstract
The “Neolithic transformation” is characterized by major changes in human history, including advancements in cognitive skills, technological knowledge, social organization, and the establishment of permanent settlements with elaborate architecture.
Around 12,000 years ago, Anatolia became a key region as hunter-gatherer communities transitioned to a settled lifestyle. Its rich natural resources, including lithic raw materials and metal ores, played a crucial role in supporting early human settlement and technological advancements.
The origins of metallurgy have generally been classified following a sequence of technological development influenced by social and cultural organization.
The artifacts related to copper production at Gre Fılla were examined using a multi-analytical approach, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM–EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS), inductively coupled mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS), and handheld X-ray fluorescence (pXRF).
The results support the hypothesis that prehistoric experimentation likely played a role in leading to different pathways of development in each region. Our findings suggest a multifaceted picture of the early Neolithic period in Eurasia, including the spread of innovation packages, local traditions, and adaptations."
This lump of melted soil may push back the origin of metallurgy by thousands of years (no public access)
Early copper production by the last hunter-gatherers (no public access)
The Gre Filla site in Anatolia in Turkey Gre Fılla excavation archive 2018–2023
This misshapen lump of molten soil may represent the earliest evidence yet of copper smelting. Gre Fılla excavation archive 2018–2023
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