A chalcolithic error: Rebuttal to Amzallag 2009

In the October 2009 issue of the AJA, Amzallag published a hypothesis for the origins and spread of furnacebased metallurgy in the Old World ("From Metallurgy to Bronze Age Civilizations: The Synthetic Theory," AJA [2009] 497-519). Amzallag's paper is rife with misunderstandings of both an archaeological and a technical nature, leading to a skewed vision of early metallurgical development. In this rebuttal, we seek to correct some of the more egregious errors in his article and provide a counterargument for the origins of copper-based metallurgy in the Old World.