Copper mining and smelting of Magan
Minería y fundición de cobre de Magan
- Date
- c. 2500 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Maysar, Wadi Samad, Oman
- Credited to
- Umm an-Nar communities (Magan)
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
The Hajar mountains, in present-day Oman, hosted organised copper mining and smelting from the third millennium BC. Sumerian texts place one of Mesopotamia's copper sources in 'Magan'.
The identification of Magan with Oman and the UAE is the most widely accepted, and Maysar-1 is the site with direct smelting evidence. The c. 2500 BC date is approximate and ranges from c. 3000 to 2000 BC.
What it led to
- maritime copper trade between the Gulf, Mesopotamia and the Indus valley
- fortified settlements of the Umm an-Nar culture (Hili, Bat)
- the economic base of the Magan and Dilmun communities