Copper Objects from Arad: Their Composition and Provenance

We report lead isotope data and trace element contents for 21 copper artifacts from EB I/II layers at Arad and for 3 contemporaneous copper objects from the southern Sinai. All objects are made of pure, unalloyed copper; tin contents are invariably far below 1 percent, and arsenic in two cases reaches up to about 1 percent. We argue that even the latter is not due to intentional addition of arsenic to improve the qualities of the implements as such but is rather an incidental constituent. Also reported are results for copper ores from six deposits in the southern Sinai. Their lead isotope abundance ratios are distinctly different from those in the artifacts; a derivation of the artifacts from ores like these can definitely be excluded. There is excellent agreement, on the other hand, in the lead isotope fingerprint and the trace element abundances, between the artifacts and copper metal from Feinan and Timna. All present evidence points to these source areas as having supplied a considerable fraction of the metal retrieved at EB I/II Arad, with circumstantial evidence favoring Feinan over Timna. The results challenge previously held assumptions that Arad was a major trading center for copper from Sinai.