the Copper Hoard from Nahal Mishmar — Mesopotamian origin, found in a Dead Sea cave, no good story for how it got there

found 1961 in a cave above the Dead Sea, Israel. 429 copper objects — mace heads, scepters, "crowns" with horns. Chalcolithic period, roughly 3500-3700 BCE. the metallurgical analysis shows the copper alloys match southern Mesopotamian sources better than local Levantine ones. the hoard was wrappe……