Nickel

The MMP analytical program has identified only two Hissar copper-based artifacts with a significant nickel content (Ni, >0.5%), both of them from the site’s Phase I: the Blade (inv. 33-15-086) illustrated here, and the Awl (inv. 33-15-079). In fact, 69 out of the 97 (i.e., 71%) copper-based artifacts studied had a nickel content of less than a tenth of that level (i.e., < 0.05%).

This low occurrence of nickel here is in marked contrast with what we find at several southern Mesopotamian sites over the same period. For example, at Ur during the Early Dynastic period (circa 2600 B.C.–2300 B.C.), close to 65% of the copper-based artifacts were bronzes with an Ni-content of >0.5% (see Ur).