Archaeology Lecture

October 8, 3:30pm - 4:30pm
Mānoa Campus, Crawford Hall 115

Archaeomagnetic Investigations of Copper Slag Deposits in the Levant
Erez Ben-Yosef, Phd.
Lecturer in Archaeology, Tel Aviv University

Cyprus: largest slag mounds in the Ancient Near East

Copper slag - the waste of metal production process by smelting - is an an excellent recorder of the ancient geomagnetic field. In the research presented here we have used slag deposits from the last 8th millennia to reconstruct geomagnetic field variations in the Levant (modern days Israel, Jordan and Cyprus), focusing on its intensity (strength). In addition to interesting discoveries regarding the field itself - one of the more enigmatic phenomena in Earth Sciences - our research has resulted in important insights regarding the beginning of metallurgy in this part of the world and new dates for the earliest (and controversial) metallurgical sites.

Sponsored by Archaeological Institute of America, University of Hawaii at Manoa Department of Anthropology and Department of LLEA


Event Sponsor
LLEA, Dept Anthropology, Archaeological Institute of America, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Robert Littman, 956-4173, littman@hawaii.edu

Share by email