6,000-Year-Old Tool Found in Israeli Desert Cave Depicts Earliest Use of ‘Pure’ Lead Metal

From the International Business Times:

A lead tool discovered in Israel what archaeologists say depicts the earliest evidence of use of the metal by humans. The tool was found in a cave in north of Negev desert, in southern Israel.

The lead object, weighing 155.8g, was found attached onto a 22.4cm long wooden shaft and dates back to the Late Chalcolithic period, roughly 6,000 years ago from the present. “The lead object was found attached to an intact wooden shaft in a field survey at Ashalim Cave, in the northern Negev Highlands. Radiocarbon dating of the shaft provided a calibrated date of ca. 4300–4000 BCE,” the researchers wrote in a paper published online in the 2 December issue of the journal, PLos ONE.

Read more at the International Business Times.