Editing Copper (section)

====Copper Age====
{{Main|Copper Age}}
[[File:Minoan copper ingot from Zakros, Crete.jpg|left|thumb|A corroded copper [[ingot]] from [[Zakros]], [[Crete]], shaped in the form of an animal skin ([[Oxhide ingot|oxhide]]) typical in that era]]
[[File:ReconstructedOetziAxe.jpg|thumb|upright|Many tools during the [[Chalcolithic]] Era included copper, such as the blade of this replica of [[Ötzi]]'s axe.]]
[[File:Chrysocolla Timna 070613.jpg|left|thumb|Copper ore ([[chrysocolla]]) in [[Cambrian]] sandstone from [[Chalcolithic]] mines in the [[Timna Valley]], southern [[Israel]]]]
Copper occurs naturally as [[native copper|native metallic copper]] and was known to some of the oldest civilizations on record. The history of copper use dates to 9000&nbsp;BC in the Middle East;<ref name="discovery">{{cite web|url=http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/copper/overview.php|title=CSA – Discovery Guides, A Brief History of Copper|publisher=Csa.com|access-date=12 September 2008|archive-date=3 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203154021/http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/copper/overview.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> a copper pendant was found in northern Iraq that dates to 8700&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite book|page = 56|title = Jewelrymaking through History: an Encyclopedia|publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group|date = 2007|isbn = 978-0-313-33507-5|author = Rayner W. Hesse}}No primary source is given in that book.</ref> Evidence suggests that gold and [[meteoric iron]] (but not smelted iron) were the only metals used by humans before copper.<ref name="vander">{{cite web|url=http://elements.vanderkrogt.net/element.php?sym=Cu|title=Copper|publisher=Elements.vanderkrogt.net|access-date=12 September 2008}}</ref> The history of copper metallurgy is thought to follow this sequence: first, [[cold forming|cold working]] of native copper, then [[Annealing (metallurgy)|annealing]], [[smelting]], and, finally, [[lost-wax casting]]. In southeastern [[Anatolia]], all four of these techniques appear more or less simultaneously at the beginning of the [[Neolithic]] {{Circa|7500 BC}}.<ref name="Renfrew1990">{{cite book|last=Renfrew|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Renfrew, Baron Renfrew of Kaimsthorn|title=Before civilization: the radiocarbon revolution and prehistoric Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJhHPgAACAAJ|access-date=21 December 2011|date=1990|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-013642-5}}</ref>

Copper smelting was independently invented in different places. The earliest evidence of [[lost-wax casting]] copper comes from an amulet found in [[Mehrgarh]], Pakistan, and is dated to 4000&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Thoury |first1=M. |last2=Mille |first2=B. |last3=Séverin-Fabiani |first3=T. |last4=Robbiola |first4=L. |last5=Réfrégiers |first5=M. |last6=Jarrige |first6=J.-F. |last7=Bertrand |first7=L. |date=2016-11-15 |title=High spatial dynamics-photoluminescence imaging reveals the metallurgy of the earliest lost-wax cast object |journal=Nature Communications |volume=7 |pages=13356 |doi=10.1038/ncomms13356 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=5116070 |pmid=27843139|bibcode=2016NatCo...713356T }}</ref> [[Investment casting]] was invented in 4500–4000&nbsp;BC in Southeast Asia<ref name="discovery" /> Smelting was probably discovered in China before 2800&nbsp;BC, in Central America around 600&nbsp;AD, and in West Africa about the 9th or 10th century AD.<ref>{{cite news|author = Cowen, R.|url = http://www.geology.ucdavis.edu/~cowen/~GEL115/115CH3.html|title = Essays on Geology, History, and People: Chapter 3: Fire and Metals|access-date = 7 July 2009|archive-date = 10 May 2008|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080510150436/http://www.geology.ucdavis.edu/~cowen/~GEL115/115CH3.html|url-status = dead}}</ref> [[Carbon dating]] has established mining at [[Alderley Edge Mines|Alderley Edge]] in [[Cheshire]], UK, at 2280 to 1890&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite book|author=Timberlake, S.|title=The Archaeology of Alderley Edge: Survey, excavation and experiment in an ancient mining landscape|author2=Prag A.J.N.W.|date=2005|publisher=John and Erica Hedges Ltd.|location=Oxford|page=396|doi=10.30861/9781841717159|isbn=9781841717159|name-list-style=amp}}</ref>


[[Ötzi the Iceman]], a male dated from 3300 to 3200&nbsp;BC, was found with an axe with a copper head 99.7% pure; high levels of [[arsenic]] in his hair suggest an involvement in copper smelting.<ref name="CSA">{{cite web|title=CSA – Discovery Guides, A Brief History of Copper|url=http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/copper/overview.php|work=CSA Discovery Guides|access-date=29 April 2011|archive-date=3 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203154021/http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/copper/overview.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> Experience with copper has assisted the development of other metals; in particular, copper smelting likely led to the discovery of [[bloomery|iron smelting]].<ref name="CSA" /> 
[[File:Copper_knife,_spearpoints,_awls,_and_spud,_Late_Archaic_period,_Wisconsin,_3000_BC-1000_BC_-_Wisconsin_Historical_Museum_-_DSC03436.JPG|thumb|224x224px|Copper artifacts from the [[Old Copper Complex]] of North America, which may have existed from approximately 9500–5400 years before present]]
Production in the [[Old Copper Complex]] in Michigan and Wisconsin is dated between 6500 and 3000&nbsp;BC.<ref name="Pompeani-2021">{{Cite journal |last1=Pompeani |first1=David P |last2=Steinman |first2=Byron A |last3=Abbott |first3=Mark B |last4=Pompeani |first4=Katherine M |last5=Reardon |first5=William |last6=DePasqual |first6=Seth |last7=Mueller |first7=Robin H |title=On the Timing of the Old Copper Complex in North America: A Comparison of Radiocarbon Dates from Different Archaeological Contexts |date=April 2021 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0033822221000072/type/journal_article |journal=Radiocarbon |language=en |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=513–531 |doi=10.1017/RDC.2021.7 |bibcode=2021Radcb..63..513P |s2cid=233029733 |issn=0033-8222}}</ref><ref name="occ">Pleger, Thomas C. "A Brief Introduction to the Old Copper Complex of the Western Great Lakes: 4000–1000 BC", ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=6NUQNQAACAAJ Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Meeting of the Forest History Association of Wisconsin]'', Oconto, Wisconsin, 5 October 2002, pp. 10–18.</ref><ref>Emerson, Thomas E. and McElrath, Dale L. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=awsA08oYoskC&pg=PA709 Archaic Societies: Diversity and Complexity Across the Midcontinent]'', SUNY Press, 2009 {{ISBN|1-4384-2701-8}}.</ref> A copper spearpoint found in Wisconsin has been dated to 6500&nbsp;BC.<ref name="Pompeani-2021" /> Copper usage by the indigenous peoples of the Old Copper Complex from the [[Great Lakes region]] of North America has been radiometrically dated to as far back as 7500&nbsp;BC.<ref name="Pompeani-2021" /><ref name="Bebber-2022">{{Cite journal |last1=Bebber |first1=Michelle R. |last2=Buchanan |first2=Briggs |last3=Holland-Lulewicz |first3=Jacob |date=2022-04-26 |title=Refining the chronology of North America's copper using traditions: A macroscalar approach via Bayesian modeling |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=e0266908 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0266908 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=9041870 |pmid=35472064 |bibcode=2022PLoSO..1766908B |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Malakoff |first=David |date=2021-03-19 |title=Ancient Native Americans were among the world's first coppersmiths |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abi6135 |journal=Science |doi=10.1126/science.abi6135 |s2cid=233663403 |issn=0036-8075}}</ref> Indigenous peoples of North America around the [[Great Lakes]] may have also been mining copper during this time, making it one of the oldest known examples of [[copper extraction]] in the world.<ref name="Pompeani-2013">{{Cite journal |last1=Pompeani |first1=David P. |last2=Abbott |first2=Mark B. |last3=Steinman |first3=Byron A. |last4=Bain |first4=Daniel J. |date=2013-05-14 |title=Lake Sediments Record Prehistoric Lead Pollution Related to Early Copper Production in North America |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es304499c |journal=Environmental Science & Technology |volume=47 |issue=11 |pages=5545–5552 |doi=10.1021/es304499c |pmid=23621800 |bibcode=2013EnST...47.5545P |issn=0013-936X}}</ref> There is evidence from prehistoric lead pollution from lakes in Michigan that people in the region began mining copper {{Circa|6000 BC}}.<ref name="Pompeani-2013" /><ref name="Pompeani-2021" /> Evidence suggests that utilitarian copper objects fell increasingly out of use in the Old Copper Complex of North America during the Bronze Age and a shift towards an increased production of ornamental copper objects occurred.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bebber |first1=Michelle R. |last2=Eren |first2=Metin I. |date=2018-10-01 |title=Toward a functional understanding of the North American Old Copper Culture "technomic devolution" |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |language=en |volume=98 |pages=34–44 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2018.08.001 |bibcode=2018JArSc..98...34B |s2cid=134060339 |issn=0305-4403|doi-access=free }}</ref>