Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Oldest Known European Metal Tool ? The Start of it all

Silver Shield · 28th August 2016, 05:16 PM

ChrisPer thank you for your question , that's a good one . I never had a doubt about composition , as I have seen other items including bronze and brass in similar states of decay and have always found that the migration of copper and its salts in these alloys even if strongly present on the surface always is very thin in its depth. So usually with just a scratch test you get through it and you get the yellow metal alloy color if your test the object. Now I never said it was not heated or partially melted but melting (Cu 1085 C ) leaves slag which gets smooth surfaces being composed of associated minerals attached or inclusionally in the mass . If encapsulated it leaves cavities with rounded or smooth surfaces in the cavities ,until distorted by percussion ect. . The voids and cavities in this object have sharp angular profiles , generally. Now copper as found in nature is always pure while such metals as Gold and Silver always have at least trace amounts of each other as found in natural occurring mass .That's why the first coins where Electrum .
The object has no value , it has no provenance other than" found around there" . The deep patina is from a marine environment , it was found in the Black Sea area of Bulgaria . I scratch tested it , its copper . It is only a curiosity ,and is only a representative piece with the properties expected of the 1st metal tools , but its form makes no sense other than used as a hand held tool ie a "Hand Axe" , at least that after years of thought and input have suggested . From field work over many decades, my experience , well my rather percussion damaged mind , says it copper . But as I know, I could always be wrong as it is the Human Condition.

28th August 2016, 05:16 PM	#12
Silver Shield Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Phoenix Arizona USA Posts: 32	Copper ? Good Question ! ChrisPer thank you for your question , that's a good one . I never had a doubt about composition , as I have seen other items including bronze and brass in similar states of decay and have always found that the migration of copper and its salts in these alloys even if strongly present on the surface always is very thin in its depth. So usually with just a scratch test you get through it and you get the yellow metal alloy color if your test the object. Now I never said it was not heated or partially melted but melting (Cu 1085 C ) leaves slag which gets smooth surfaces being composed of associated minerals attached or inclusionally in the mass . If encapsulated it leaves cavities with rounded or smooth surfaces in the cavities ,until distorted by percussion ect. . The voids and cavities in this object have sharp angular profiles , generally. Now copper as found in nature is always pure while such metals as Gold and Silver always have at least trace amounts of each other as found in natural occurring mass .That's why the first coins where Electrum . The object has no value , it has no provenance other than" found around there" . The deep patina is from a marine environment , it was found in the Black Sea area of Bulgaria . I scratch tested it , its copper . It is only a curiosity ,and is only a representative piece with the properties expected of the 1st metal tools , but its form makes no sense other than used as a hand held tool ie a "Hand Axe" , at least that after years of thought and input have suggested . From field work over many decades, my experience , well my rather percussion damaged mind , says it copper . But as I know, I could always be wrong as it is the Human Condition.