Archaeologists discovered ancient copper ingots around 4,300 years old in Oman, which were a real treasure back then. The find was made during the excavation of several ancient settlements in the province of North Sharqiya. The settlements themselves date back to the Early Bronze Age. The ingots consisted of three individual ingots fused together and were cone-shaped. The total weight of the ingots was 1.7 kilograms.
At that time, copper was a very valuable material, from which various tools and other items were made. Therefore, such ingots were a great treasure and were sent for processing. This makes the archaeologists’ find even more unique because ingots are very rarely found in archaeological excavations.
The scientists have suggested that the inhabitants of the settlement had to urgently leave their place of residence for some reason, and the ingots were simply forgotten. The inhabitants probably never returned, so the ingots have lain in the ground for several thousand years.
The find will help scientists to learn more about the role of the territory of modern Oman in inter-regional trade relations in the Early Bronze Age, and will also add to the knowledge of the already known ancient metal processing technologies. In ancient times, the territory of modern-day Oman was one of the most important copper producers for ancient Mesopotamia and for the Indus culture in what is now Iraq, Pakistan and India. Only here was copper ore found on an industrial scale.
The find of copper ingots is further evidence that Oman played an important role in trade and technology exchange in antiquity. This is confirmed by other finds made earlier in Oman, such as objects of gold, silver and bronze.