GRE FILLA, TURKEY—According to a report by La Brújula Verde, Turkish archaeologists made a stunning revelation that suggests hunter-gatherer societies in southeastern Anatolia may have already been working copper 9,000 years ago—thousands of years earlier than expected. The discovery was made at the site of Gre Filla in the Upper Tigris Valley, which, like the more famous Göbeklitepe, is known for its Pre-Pottery Neolithic period (ca. 12,000–10,200 years ago) stone-built ritual structures. However, a scientific team recently examined materials from the site using advanced techniques such as X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and flame atomic spectroscopy. They determined that some copper fragments and vitrified material had been exposed to temperatures exceeding 1000 degrees Celsius, indicating that the site’s inhabitants had more advanced control of fire than previously thought and that they may have even been experimenting with metallurgic processes. Traditionally, copper metallurgy is not thought to have emerged until millennia later, during the Chalcolithic period. Thus far, the earliest evidence of smelting comes from the Anatolian site of Yumuktepe and dates to 5000 b.c. If it is confirmed that the population of Gre Filla was experimenting with copper smelting, researchers posit, the discovery would require a reassessment of the origins of metallurgy. To read about Cypriot merchants who controlled the lucrative ancient copper trade, go to "In the Time of the Copper Kings."
