Raw Copper

3D Model

This model depicts a piece of copper metal produced during the Iron Age in the Faynan region of modern Jordan and found at Area F at Khirbat en-Nahas. The metal was extracted from the locally available copper ores through smelting in clay furnaces. This copper would likely have been further melted down and cast into an ingot for export using a mold. Most of the copper produced in Faynan during the Iron Age was exported from the region, leaving only small pieces (like this one) behind for archaeologists to discover.

Photography by Anthony Tamberino, Model by Matthew D. Howland

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.