Video frames 'copper conundrum' between Old World ore output and artifact totals

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Key facts

• Ricardo Calvário's frames the 'copper conundrum' as a mismatch: Old World copper mine output is given as roughly 240 tons to a maximum of about 1,100 tons, while known Old World artifacts are said to represent up to 100,000 tons of copper.
• In the presentation, 'Old World' means Europe plus Anatolia, the Near East and North Africa.
• The group notes most known mines have already been studied and that no significant undiscovered mines are assumed to remain.
• Ricardo states Old World copper came from carbonate and sulfidic ores that had to be smelted, whereas Upper Peninsula, Michigan copper occurs as float copper, i.e. native metallic copper.
• Jason Huffman: restates the problem as a measured displacement between copper taken out of the ground and copper represented in artifacts, and says a simple migration of copper between regions is the quickest explanation.
• The panel draws a parallel with the genetic conundrum of a South America-Easter Island link, where geneticists accept contact that archaeologists reject.
• These mismatch figures are the presenters' reading of the academic literature and are presented as an argument, not a settled archaeological finding.

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