Copper Ore

3D Model

This model depicts copper ore (greenish-blue lines, see annotation) in its host rock excavated from the Area M slag mound at Khirbat en-Nahas, an Iron Age copper smelting site in Faynan, Jordan. The local metallurgists would try to remove the ore from the host rock before adding it to a smelting furnace where any remaining rock and other impurities (called gangue) would be melted away and form slag.

Photography and model by Anthony Tamberino.

Further Reading: Ben-Yosef E, et al. (2019) Ancient technology and punctuated change: Detecting the emergence of the Edomite Kingdom in the Southern Levant. PLoS ONE 14(9): e0221967.

Context: KEN06 Area M Locus 627