Strata: Special Collections

Imagine a world without metal. Journey to the Copper Age tells the story of the profound changes that metallurgy brought to human society: the birth of Mediterranean farming, the creation of the first temples and cemeteries, and the emergence of complex societies. Drawing on evidence and discoveries dating to the Copper Age, or Chalcolithic period (4500–3600 B.C.E.), the exhibit takes visitors on a fascinating journey through the development of humanity in present-day Israel, Palestine and Jordan, and its ties to the beginnings of metal production.

This exhibit is based on a National Geographic expedition organized by Professor Thomas Levy of the University of California, San Diego, who led a group of international scientists on donkeys across the deserts of Jordan and Israel to reconstruct the ancient trade route, mining methods and ore smelting that were first used more than 6,000 years ago.^b Highlights from the exhibition include