07.03.2017, 16:25
Ancient copper tools were discovered in Serbia
OREANDA-NEWS A “sensational” discovery of 75-century-old copper tools in Serbia is compelling scientists to reconsider existing theories about where and when man began using metal, investigatemagazine.co.nz reported.
Copper tools – axes, hammers, hooks and needles – were found interspersed with other artefacts from a settlement that burned down some 7,000 years ago at Plocnik, near Prokuplje and 200 kilometres south of Belgrade. The village had been there for some eight centuries before its demise. After the big fire, its unknown inhabitants moved away. But what they left behind points to man’s earliest known extraction and shaping of metal.
Scientists had previously believed that the mining, extraction and manipulation of copper began in Asia Minor, spreading from there. With the find in Plocnik, parallel and simultaneous developments of those skills in several places now seem more likely, Pernicka said.
Indeed, the tools discovered in southern Serbia were made some 75 centuries ago – up to eight centuries older than what has been found to date.
The site at Plocnik, believed to cover some 120 hectares in all, is buried under several metres of soil. Serbian archaeologists have so far exposed three homes – the largest of them, measuring eight by five metres, discovered this year. The layer of earth it stood on is still blackened from the scorching heat that destroyed the village. It is unclear what caused the fire, but no damage that would indicate an outside attack has been found.
The huts collapsed on their contents, with mud bricks and ashes burying all that was inside – pottery, statues, tools and a worktable. After dusting the still embedded artifacts off, archaeologists began extracting them, most of all hoping to find more precious copper tools.
The find, which stems from “certainly very, very early in the Copper Age,” was a very lucky one, said another expert from Tuebingen, Raiko Kraus.
The Ploce locality was discovered by railroad builders in 1927, but was largely disregarded until 1996, when serious excavations began, eventually yielding the sensational finds.
According to Krause, old settlements may similarly surface in eastern Anatolia when Turkey launches some massive earth-moving project, such as building a dam.
There is also much more to be learned about the ancient inhabitants, apart from the key question of how man developed his tools.
Copper tools – axes, hammers, hooks and needles – were found interspersed with other artefacts from a settlement that burned down some 7,000 years ago at Plocnik, near Prokuplje and 200 kilometres south of Belgrade. The village had been there for some eight centuries before its demise. After the big fire, its unknown inhabitants moved away. But what they left behind points to man’s earliest known extraction and shaping of metal.
Scientists had previously believed that the mining, extraction and manipulation of copper began in Asia Minor, spreading from there. With the find in Plocnik, parallel and simultaneous developments of those skills in several places now seem more likely, Pernicka said.
Indeed, the tools discovered in southern Serbia were made some 75 centuries ago – up to eight centuries older than what has been found to date.
The site at Plocnik, believed to cover some 120 hectares in all, is buried under several metres of soil. Serbian archaeologists have so far exposed three homes – the largest of them, measuring eight by five metres, discovered this year. The layer of earth it stood on is still blackened from the scorching heat that destroyed the village. It is unclear what caused the fire, but no damage that would indicate an outside attack has been found.
The huts collapsed on their contents, with mud bricks and ashes burying all that was inside – pottery, statues, tools and a worktable. After dusting the still embedded artifacts off, archaeologists began extracting them, most of all hoping to find more precious copper tools.
The find, which stems from “certainly very, very early in the Copper Age,” was a very lucky one, said another expert from Tuebingen, Raiko Kraus.
The Ploce locality was discovered by railroad builders in 1927, but was largely disregarded until 1996, when serious excavations began, eventually yielding the sensational finds.
According to Krause, old settlements may similarly surface in eastern Anatolia when Turkey launches some massive earth-moving project, such as building a dam.
There is also much more to be learned about the ancient inhabitants, apart from the key question of how man developed his tools.
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