Archeologists unearthed an ancient copper awl, believed to be from the late 6th to the early 5th millennia CalBC, in an archeological dig in Tel Tsaf, Jordan Valley, Israel. According to the researchers, it predates all known metals in the southern Levant region by several hundred years, as well as all known tin bronze materials by as much as three millennia.
In the research article published in Plos|One last March 26, the authors said, "...a recently discovered copper awl from a Middle Chalcolithic burial at Tel Tsaf, Jordan Valley, Israel, suggests that cast metal technology was introduced to the region as early as the late 6th millennium CalBC."
Initially, it was believed that copper appeared in southern Levant in the Late Chalcolithic period, around 4500 to 3800 CalBC. The discovery suggests that the item could have been brought from another region, thus the introduction of the metal to the area which was later produced locally.
The copper awl is a pin-like metal object 41 millimeters long, five millimeters in diameter near the base attached to what remained of its wooden handle, and one millimeter near the tip. Made of cast copper, it has a green outer coloring due to corrosion and oxidation, and it has a reddish core.
The archeologists discovered the rare find in a burial site in the southern Levant region. The grave from which it was discovered belonged to a woman, estimated to be 40 years old at the time of death. She was wearing a necklace made of 1,668 ostrich eggshells, which was arranged in six rows around the pelvis.
Other discoveries at the site include a Nilotic shell that came from Egypt, shards of Ubaid pottery from Mesopotamia or north Syria, and items made of obsidian, which could have come from Armenia or Anatolia.
The article said, "No other known site of this period exhibits long-distance connections in a similar dimension."
The paper, entitled "The Beginning of Metallurgy in the Southern Levant: A Late 6<sup>th Millennium CalBC Copper Awl from Tel Tsaf, Israel", was authored by Yosef Garfinkel, Florian Klimscha, Sariel Shalev, and Danny Rosenberg.
