Where Was Copper First Discovered?

While copper was known to primitive humans for thousands of years, most early copper artifacts came from cold-working the metal to produce tools. Smelting copper was a common practice throughout the Middle East by 4500 B.C., with some of the first copper smelting sites discovered in Israel, Egypt and Jordan. The frozen caveman Otzi was found with an incredibly pure copper axe head in his possession, and the arsenic traces found in his hair suggested he worked with the metal regularly.