The Earliest Copper Smelting Activity in South-Eastern Arabia. Some Preliminary Results from Al-Khashbah

Abstract

Some very early evidence of copper metallurgy was found at Al-Khashbah, in the Shamal Al-Sharqiya governorate, near Sinaw, Oman. The site lies at the southern foothills of the Al-Hajar Mountains, rich in copper ore deposits. The earliest findings were 14C dated to the end of the 4th millennium BC. Many crucible fragments were recovered in one of the monumental round structures, so-called towers, which characterize the site, Building V. These fragments are currently the oldest evidence of copper smelting activity on the Arabian Peninsula. The paper presents the preliminary results of the archaeometallurgical investigations carried out on these crucibles with Optical Microscopy (OM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The results indicated that at Al-Khashbah metallic copper was produced from ores using rather primitive techniques, such as crucible smelting. Similar techniques are also attested elsewhere in Asian and European prehistoric contexts during the very beginning of metallurgical activities.