[Silver Shield]

This thread was started for discourse about origins or weapons ect, and it is good to have discussion of facts and beliefs in a friendly manner . I'm not stating that this axe " Is the Oldest" but it represents the early starting technologies of metal use , and your input of information is good and welcome .Well, as most students of Archeology and Paleoanthropology understand and make allowances for , there is constant changes in ideas and understanding of our past with new information . As far as date .. 7,500 years equals 5,500 BCE( Before the Common Era) BCE used to be call BC but now its consider Politically Incorrect to use "Before Christ". Copper occurs in very Large masses , the largest know mass , was found in 1857 in the US State of Michigan weighing 420 tonnes .As far as casting verses just hammered into shape , maybe I did not include enough information as I did not want to make long and boring thread. The object shows distinct directional layering in its decomposition as would be expected in hammering vs casting , and has" inclusions" that is naturally occurring foreign matter in its composition , and does not have the somewhat characteristic gas bubbles, micro porosity nor rounded pits of casting . The pits that do exist are irregular in their structure and form . I have dug a lot of metal in excavations , and I disagree that the patina is not indicative of its age vs a acidic environment , natural copper is amazingly pure vs other naturally occurring metal masses and its decomposition would usually be a little more uniform in most environments . I have studied a lot of copper dug in the same region too . And the Objects of the period I am suggesting from know sites. I have been as a guest of several foreign governments for Archaeological related reasons , have had easy access to the collections not on display and objects from the same areas usually have a certain look . On hammering , give me a good copper mass, a heat source as in a fires coals and some good hard stone , such as Quartzsite and I guarantee you in a hour or two I could reproduce this Object . Stone as a tool is highly underrated by those who have not used it :-) This is all friendly and I'm not a expert in anything but a student . plus I cannot write nor spell .

Michael P.
Former president and founder of the Central AZ Chapter of the Archeological Institute of America