Judaism and Science

Native Copper – Credit: Roger Price

From about 1550 BCE to 1200 BCE, gold may have been the marker of wealth and silver the metal of commercial currency in the Ancient Near East (ANE), but that time period is known as the Late Bronze Age. The Early Bronze Age in the ANE began around 3000 BCE when some unknown metallurgist realized that melting copper (Cu) with tin (Sn) would make the resulting substance, or alloy, stronger than copper alone. But prior to that discovery, copper’s use, without any purposeful chemical additions, went unchallenged for perhaps over six millennia. In the ANE, copper began to replace stone as the material of choice for a variety of uses such as tools, weapons, and decorations possibly as far back as 8700 BCE, as evidenced by a copper pendant dated to that time which was discovered in what is present day Northern Iraq.  

Copper

Copper’s supremacy, in the ANE and around 5000 BCE in other places like the Indus Valley in the Indian Subcontinent and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States, arose from a happy coincidence of several factors. Copper was, like gold and silver, two other elements in Group 11 of the Periodic Table, an element that existed in the solid phase under Standard Temperature and Pressure conditions, that is, at 32^oF (0^oC) and 1 atm (atmosphere). While it could be found as a carbonate (e.g., malachite), as a sulphate (e.g., chalcanthite), and as an oxide (e.g., tenorite), among other sources, it could also be found in its native metallic form. By itself, copper appeared as a reddish-brown metal, one that could be seen on the ground as nuggets and available for the taking in those locations where it existed. Today an interested person can still purchase native copper from shops located in old copper mining areas.