Rough Malachite with Chrysocolla
A beautiful but fragile piece of malachite with chrysocolla from South Africa. As this piece reflects light its crystals sparkle beautifully.
Malachite is a relatively soft mineral and pure chrysocolla is even softer.
Malachite was the first ore of copper. It was being mined in the Sinai and deserts of ancient Egypt from about 3000 BC. Two thousand years later it was discovered heating and melting malachite reduced it to native copper.
The green colour made it popular as a pigment. As well as being used as a cosmetic particularly for around the eyes, it was also used in wall paintings.
In Europe during the Neolithic Period which was the final period of the Stone Age, copper extracted from ores is known to have been widely used.
Ötzi also known as the Iceman is Europe's oldest human mummy. He lived between 3400 and 3100 BC. He was found in 1991 in the Alps on the border between Austria and Italy.
One of his possessions was an axe with an almost pure copper head. Tests confirmed the copper which would have been extracted from an ore came from Tuscany. Most ores only contain a small amount of metal.
Hair samples were contaminated with copper and arsenic. This confirms he was heavily involved with the smelting of copper. Smelting is the process of heating and melting an ore to extract the metal.
