Metal tools are one of the most valuable resources modern archaeologists have when it comes to learning about our ancestors – because they last longer than wood or clay, they can offer us glimpses into the past that few other things can. According to researchers from the University of Haifa (along with researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the German Archaeological Institute of Berlin), the latest excavation of a small copper awl in Tel Tsaf, Israel has scientists rethinking the evolution of human tool-making: It dates to the late 6^th millennium or the early 5^th millennium BCE, moving back by several hundred years the date it was previously thought that the peoples of the region began to use metals.

The awl, just four centimeters long, was found buried in a silo along with what must have been a very important woman: Not only does the silo burial signify importance, but she was wearing an elaborate ostrich-egg beaded belt, and was buried beneath several large stones. Though the grave and its details were reported as part of a previous excavation, for some reason the awl was overlooked.

“The appearance of the item in a woman’s grave, which represents one of the most elaborate burials we’ve seen in our region from that era, testifies to both the importance of the awl and the importance of the woman, and it’s possible that we are seeing here the first indications of social hierarchy and complexity,” said Dr. Danny Rosenberg. “However, in this area far more is unknown than is known, and although the discovery of the awl at Tel Tsaf constitutes evidence of a peak of technological development among the peoples of the region and is a discovery of global importance, there’s a lot of progress still to be made and many parts of the wider picture are still unknown to us.”

That’s not the only thing remarkable about the awl. Rosenberg and his colleagues believe it may have originated in the Caucasus, some 1,000 kilometers from Tel Tsaf. Though commercial relationships between far-flung locations were known to exist previously, the fact that the awl represented both a new technology and a new processing technique coming from such a distance leads Rosenberg to believe that Tel Tsaf must have been a significant place in the region at the time.

“It seems that at least some of the questions raised by this unique item will be answered by an interdisciplinary research project we have been conducting at the site since last year,” Dr. Rosenberg continued. “This project integrates multi-national archeologists and researchers from a variety of other scientific disciplines, who will address the even more complex questions that will undoubtedly arise.”