Archaeologists have unearthed from a woman’s grave in the Middle East the world’s oldest metal object ever discovered.

A cone-shaped copper awl was discovered in Tel Tsaf, an archaeological site in Israel’s Jordan Valley.

“The appearance of the item in a woman’s grave testifies to both the importance of the awl and the importance of the woman. It is possible that we are seeing here the first indications of social hierarchy and complexity,” explained Danny Rosenberg, an archaeologist at University of Haifa.

The copper awl dates between 5100 BC-4600 B.C.. The discovery was detailed in a paper that appeared in the journal PLOS ONE.

 

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