Early Civilizations and Copper
Early Civilizations and Copper
Besides areas in Western Asia, the use of copper was
discovered in England where copper is found in Cornwall and
Devon, western France, Italy, Spain, and central Europe in Saxony
and Bohemia. 
Native American copper
implements are known from Michigan, as well. Asian civilizations,
too, discovered ways to use copper.
Back in the Middle East, the Sumerian city-states comprised the first great metal-using civilization. The Sumerians navigated the Euphrates River for commerce, including the transportation of copper from Armenia to the north. The Sumerian word for copper, "urudu", is the same word for the Euphrates, literally, their "copper river."
At Gerza on the Nile River just south of the modern site of Cairo, the Gerzeans developed a civilization based on the metallurgy of copper. In about 3500 B.C. they learned basic copper metallurgy from immigrants from Mesopotamia.
The First Dynasty of Egypt began about 200 years later, under King Menes. The tomb of the queen of Pharoah Snefru of the Second Dynasty contained copper stoneworking tools. It was not until the Third Dynasty, however, that the great stone tombs and monuments were begun. The pyramids and other great buildings of the Egyptian civilization were built of stones that had been quarried and shaped using copper tools.
While the rock used in the buildings was found nearby, the Eygptians mined copper in the Sinai Peninsula. The scale of copper mining in the Sinai reached a size that made it the first real industry of the ancient world. The Egyptians mined deposits of the green copper mineral malachite. Malachite, a copper carbonate, was prized because it was the easiest copper mineral to reduce to copper metal. The closely related blue copper carbonate mineral azurite also was discovered. Near these two copper ore minerals, the early prospectors often found another copper mineral, blue-green turquoise. Turquoise is still prized around the world as a gem stone. Ruins of the old mines, the miners' huts, and inscriptions to the Goddess Hathor, the Lady of the Turquoise, can be found to this day in the Sinai. Copper mining in the Sinai Peninsula continued until the reign of Ramses III, in 1150 B.C., over 2,000 years later.
With the help of copper implements, King Zoser, founder of the Third Dynasty of Egypt, built the first great pyramid, the Pyramid of Saqqara, about 2900 B.C. The Great Pyramid of Gizeh, built by King Khufu, followed 100 years later.
Copper reached the island of Crete from Egypt. A copper axe from about 3000 B.C. was found on the floor of the ruins of a house. Egyptian barges carried copper to the western coast of Asia Minor, where they traded for the famous cedar wood from what is now Lebanon. The ships then went west to Cyprus, further west to Crete, then 320 miles south back to the Nile Delta. Ruins of the great Cretan civilization hold artifacts with Egyptian influence, such as fresco painting, pottery, and stone statuettes. However, the form of the metal objects is more like that from Asia Minor.
Metallurgy from Asia Minor reached Cyprus about 2600 B.C. The peoples of Anatolia (now Turkey) migrated west on favorable sea currents in the eastern Mediterranean. The people of Crete developed an industry based on copper, giving the copper miners of Cyprus an incentive to expand their mines. Egyptians traded fabrics and gold for copper from Cyprus. Myceneans settled near the copper deposit of Skouriotissa on Cyprus. This deposit was rediscovered by Charles Gunther and mined again in modern times.
Early metalsmiths of Sumer, Babylon, and Egypt were highly prized members of their society. Often, they were not free, owing their obedience and livelihood to temple priests and authorities. They were so valuable that invading armies made a special effort to carry them off in captivity. Metalsmiths transmitted their secrets to their children. Their guilds may have been the first trade unions in history.
Geology
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