Archaeometallurgy in northern Oman—Diachronic copper production on a smelting site in Wadi al-Salh

Archaeometallurgical studies at the Salh site in northern Oman have provided new data on copper technology in the Bronze Age and Islamic periods. Archaeological results indicate that it may have functioned seasonally. Slag analyses have shown possible technological changes over the centuries. Smelting was carried out under reducing conditions, using oxidized copper ores weathering zone deposits. The scale of copper production at Salh1 was relatively small in both periods, but—due to its strategic location near important trade routes—the site could have functioned as part of a short-range as well as long-range mercantile network.