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105-724: Zarqa Governorate hosts the largest military and air bases of the Jordanian armed forces. The land of Zarqa Governorate has been inhabited since the Bronze Age , most prominent were the Ammonite kingdom and the Nabateans , who constructed the fort known as Qasr al Hallabat , which then was used as a fort by the Romans, and then as a desert palace by the Umayyads . The most significant historical remains are

210-595: A carnelian bead identified with the Middle Kingdom pharaoh Senusret I , whose reign is dated to 1971–1926 BC. A stela and a statuette of the Egyptian pharaohs Senusret III and Amenemhet III have also been found. However, it is unclear when they first arrived at Ugarit. In the Amarna letters , messages from Ugarit c.  1350 BC written by Ammittamru I , Niqmaddu II , and his queen have been discovered. From

315-618: A "dark period" in ancient Egyptian history, spanned about 100 years after the end of the Old Kingdom from about 2181 to 2055 BC. Very little monumental evidence survives from this period, especially from the early part of it. The First Intermediate Period was a dynamic time when the rule of Egypt was roughly divided between two areas: Heracleopolis in Lower Egypt and Thebes in Upper Egypt. These two kingdoms eventually came into conflict, and

420-560: A 3rd-millennium BC culture postulated based on a collection of artefacts confiscated in 2001. In modern scholarship, the chronology of the Bronze Age Levant is divided into: The term Neo-Syria is used to designate the early Iron Age . The old Syrian period was dominated by the Eblaite first kingdom , Nagar and the Mariote second kingdom . The Akkadians conquered large areas of

525-519: A female to male ratio of 48.25 to 51.75 and a population density of 191.3 persons per Km The population of districts according to census results: Zarqa Governorate is divided into three departments: Due to its close location to the populated cities in Jordan, Zarqa Governorate has the largest number of factories in Jordan, Jordan's only oil refinery plant is located in Zarqa. Muwaffaq Salti Air Base ,

630-429: A large scale was bronze , made of 1 ⁄ 8  tin and 7 ⁄ 8   copper (12.5% and 87.5% respectively), from as early as 3000 BC. After 600 BC, pure metallic tin was produced. Pewter , which is an alloy of 85–90% tin with the remainder commonly consisting of copper , antimony , bismuth, and sometimes lead and silver, has been used for flatware since the Bronze Age . In modern times, tin

735-532: A major "tin crisis" ensued—tin was delisted from trading on the London Metal Exchange for about three years. ITC dissolved soon afterward, and the price of tin, now in a free-market environment, fell to $ 4 per pound and remained around that level through the 1990s. The price increased again by 2010 with a rebound in consumption following the 2007–2008 economic crisis , accompanying restocking and continued growth in consumption. London Metal Exchange (LME)

840-576: A period of widespread societal collapse known as the Late Bronze Age collapse ( c.  1200  – c.  1150 BC ), although its severity and scope is debated among scholars. An ancient civilisation is deemed to be part of the Bronze Age if it either produced bronze by smelting its own copper and alloying it with tin , arsenic , or other metals, or traded other items for bronze from producing areas elsewhere. Bronze Age cultures were

945-402: A permanence not enjoyed by manuscripts. These inscriptions can commonly be subdivided into four parts: a reference to the date and place, the naming of the event commemorated, the list of gifts given to the artisan in exchange for the bronze, and a dedication. The relative points of reference these vessels provide have enabled historians to place most of the vessels within a certain time frame of

1050-526: A phenomenon known as " tin pest " or "tin disease". Some unverifiable sources also say that, during Napoleon 's Russian campaign of 1812, the temperatures became so cold that the tin buttons on the soldiers' uniforms disintegrated over time, contributing to the defeat of the Grande Armée , a persistent legend. The α-β transformation temperature is 13.2 °C (55.8 °F), but impurities (e.g. Al, Zn, etc.) lower it well below 0 °C (32 °F). With

1155-562: A power vacuum in Mesopotamia. At its beginning, Mitanni's major rival was Egypt under the Thutmosids . However, with the ascent of the Hittite empire, Mitanni and Egypt allied to protect their mutual interests from the threat of Hittite domination. At the height of its power during the 14th century BC, Mitanni had outposts centred on its capital, Washukanni , which archaeologists have located on

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1260-402: A result of twinning in tin crystals. Tin is a post-transition metal in group 14 of the periodic table of elements. It is obtained chiefly from the mineral cassiterite , which contains stannic oxide , SnO 2 . Tin shows a chemical similarity to both of its neighbors in group 14, germanium and lead , and has two main oxidation states , +2 and the slightly more stable +4. Tin

1365-472: A small administrative town) appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC. The Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over a century later, it briefly took over the other city-states and formed the short-lived First Babylonian Empire during what is also called the Old Babylonian Period . Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia used

1470-552: A solution with most metals and elements so tin does not have much solid solubility. Tin mixes well with bismuth , gallium , lead , thallium and zinc , forming simple eutectic systems. Tin becomes a superconductor below 3.72  K and was one of the first superconductors to be studied. The Meissner effect , one of the characteristic features of superconductors, was first discovered in superconducting tin crystals. Tin resists corrosion from water , but can be corroded by acids and alkalis . Tin can be highly polished and

1575-608: A tin or tin-lead coolant, the tin would first have to go through isotopic separation to remove the isotopes with odd mass number. Combined, these three isotopes make up about 17% of natural tin but represent nearly all of the capture cross section. Of the remaining seven isotopes tin-112 has a capture cross section of 1 barn. The other six isotopes forming 82.7% of natural tin have capture cross sections of 0.3 barns or less, making them effectively transparent to neutrons. Tin has 31 unstable isotopes, ranging in mass number from 99 to 139. The unstable tin isotopes have half-lives of less than

1680-448: A year except for tin-126 , which has a half-life of about 230,000 years. Tin-100 and tin-132 are two of the very few nuclides with a " doubly magic " nucleus which despite being unstable, as they have very uneven neutron–proton ratios , are the endpoints beyond which tin isotopes lighter than tin-100 and heavier than tin-132 are much less stable. Another 30 metastable isomers have been identified for tin isotopes between 111 and 131,

1785-407: Is a soft, malleable , ductile and highly crystalline silvery-white metal . When a bar of tin is bent a crackling sound known as the " tin cry " can be heard from the twinning of the crystals. This trait is shared by indium , cadmium , zinc , and mercury in its solid state. Tin melts at about 232 °C (450 °F), the lowest in group 14, and boils at 2,602 °C (4,716 °F),

1890-567: Is an argument to be made that the Bronze Age never properly ended in China, as there is no recognisable transition to an Iron Age. Together with the jade art that precedes it, bronze was seen as a fine material for ritual art when compared with iron or stone. Bronze metallurgy in China originated in what is referred to as the Erlitou period, which some historians argue places it within the Shang. Others believe

1995-565: Is called the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex . The Kulli culture , similar to that of the Indus Valley Civilisation , was located in southern Balochistan (Gedrosia) c.  2500–2000 BC . The economy was agricultural. Dams were found in several places, providing evidence for a highly developed water management system. Konar Sandal is associated with the hypothesized Jiroft culture ,

2100-637: Is conjectured to have been associated with the sudden arrival of the Sea Peoples , the kingdom disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived into the 8th century BC. Arzawa , in Western Anatolia, during the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, likely extended along southern Anatolia in a belt from near the Turkish Lakes region to the Aegean coast. Arzawa

2205-414: Is evidence that Cornwall in the first centuries AD was the main source of tin. Tin extraction and use can be dated to the beginnings of the Bronze Age around 3000 BC, when it was observed that copper objects formed of polymetallic ores with different metal contents had different physical properties. The earliest bronze objects had a tin or arsenic content of less than 2% and are believed to be

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2310-517: Is further conjectured that the same migrations spread the Uralic group of languages across Europe and Asia, with extant members of the family including Hungarian , Finnish and Estonian . In China, the earliest bronze artefacts have been found in the Majiayao culture site (3100–2700 BC). The term "Bronze Age" has been transferred to the archaeology of China from that of Western Eurasia, and there

2415-563: Is generated via the long s -process in low-to-medium mass stars (with masses of 0.6 to 10 times that of the Sun ), and finally by beta decay of the heavy isotopes of indium . Tin is the 49th most abundant element in Earth's crust , representing 2  ppm compared with 75 ppm for zinc, 50 ppm for copper, and 14 ppm for lead. Tin does not occur as the native element but must be extracted from various ores. Cassiterite ( SnO 2 )

2520-578: Is named after the Korean name for undecorated or plain cooking and storage vessels that form a large part of the pottery assemblage over the entire length of the period, but especially between 850 and 550 BC. The Mumun period is known for the origins of intensive agriculture and complex societies in both the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago. The Middle Mumun pottery period culture of

2625-511: Is no consensus or universally used convention delimiting the "Bronze Age" in the context of Chinese prehistory . The "Early Bronze Age" in China is sometimes taken to be coterminous with the reign of the Shang dynasty (16th–11th centuries BC), and the Later Bronze Age with the subsequent Zhou dynasty (11th–3rd centuries BC), from the 5th century, called Iron Age China although there

2730-562: Is stable below 13.2 °C (55.8 °F) and is brittle . α-tin has a diamond cubic crystal structure, as do diamond and silicon . α-tin does not have metallic properties because its atoms form a covalent structure in which electrons cannot move freely. α-tin is a dull-gray powdery material with no common uses other than specialized semiconductor applications. γ-tin and σ-tin exist at temperatures above 161 °C (322 °F)  and pressures above several GPa . In cold conditions β-tin tends to transform spontaneously into α-tin,

2835-512: Is the 49th most abundant element on Earth, making up 0.00022% of its crust, and with 10 stable isotopes, it has the largest number of stable isotopes in the periodic table, due to its magic number of protons. It has two main allotropes : at room temperature, the stable allotrope is β-tin, a silvery-white, malleable metal; at low temperatures it is less dense grey α-tin, which has the diamond cubic structure. Metallic tin does not easily oxidize in air and water. The first tin alloy used on

2940-528: Is the least common stable isotope. The isotopes with even mass numbers have no nuclear spin , while those with odd mass numbers have a nuclear spin of 1/2. It is thought that tin has such a great multitude of stable isotopes because of tin's atomic number being 50, which is a " magic number " in nuclear physics. Tin is one of the easiest elements to detect and analyze by NMR spectroscopy , which relies on molecular weight and its chemical shifts are referenced against tetramethyltin ( SnMe 4 ). Of

3045-443: Is the only commercially important source of tin, although small quantities of tin are recovered from complex sulfides such as stannite , cylindrite , franckeite , canfieldite , and teallite . Minerals with tin are almost always associated with granite rock, usually at a level of 1% tin oxide content. Because of the higher specific gravity of tin dioxide, about 80% of mined tin is from secondary deposits found downstream from

3150-628: Is tin's principal trading site. Other tin contract markets are Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM) and Indonesia Tin Exchange (INATIN). Due to factors involved in the 2021 global supply chain crisis , tin prices almost doubled during 2020–21 and have had their largest annual rise in over 30 years. Global refined tin consumption dropped 1.6 percent in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global manufacturing industries. In 2018, just under half of all tin produced

3255-425: Is used as a protective coat for other metals. When heated in air it oxidizes slowly to form a thin passivation layer of stannic oxide ( SnO 2 ) that inhibits further oxidation. Tin has ten stable isotopes , the greatest number of any element. Their mass numbers are 112, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 122, and 124. Tin-120 makes up almost a third of all tin. Tin-118 and tin-116 are also common. Tin-115

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3360-473: Is used in many alloys, most notably tin-lead soft solders , which are typically 60% or more tin, and in the manufacture of transparent, electrically conducting films of indium tin oxide in optoelectronic applications. Another large application is corrosion -resistant tin plating of steel . Because of the low toxicity of inorganic tin, tin-plated steel is widely used for food packaging as " tin cans ". Some organotin compounds can be extremely toxic. Tin

3465-505: The r -process (rapid neutron capture) in supernovae and neutron star mergers . Tin isotopes 115, 117 through 120, and 122 are produced via both the s -process and the r -process, The two lightest stable isotopes, tin-112 and tin-114, cannot be made in significant amounts in the s - or r -processes and are among the p-nuclei whose origins are not well understood. Some theories about their formation include proton capture and photodisintegration . Tin-115 might be partially produced in

3570-518: The Igeum-dong site . Bronze was an important element in ceremonies and for mortuary offerings until 100 BC. Tin Tin is a chemical element ; it has symbol Sn (from Latin stannum ) and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, the so-called " tin cry " can be heard as

3675-721: The Iranian plateau , centred in Anshan . From the mid-2nd millennium BC, Elam was centred in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a crucial role in both the Gutian Empire and the Iranian Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it. The Oxus civilisation was a Bronze Age Central Asian culture dated c.  2300–1700 BC and centred on the upper Amu Darya ( a.k.a. ). In

3780-516: The Kassite period c.  1500  – c.  1155 BC ). The usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used in the context of Mesopotamia. Instead, a division primarily based on art and historical characteristics is more common. The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people. Ur , Kish , Isin , Larsa , and Nippur in

3885-568: The Majiayao site in Gansu rather than at Xinjiang . The production of Erlitou represents the earliest large-scale metallurgy industry in the Central Plains of China. The influence of the Saima-Turbino metalworking tradition from the north is supported by a series of recent discoveries in China of many unique perforated spearheads with downward hooks and small loops on the same or opposite side of

3990-608: The s -process, both directly and as the daughter of long-lived indium-115 , and also from the decay of indium-115 produced via the r -process. The word tin is shared among Germanic languages and can be traced back to reconstructed Proto-Germanic * tin-om ; cognates include German Zinn , Swedish tenn and Dutch tin . It is not found in other branches of Indo-European , except by borrowing from Germanic (e.g., Irish tinne from English). The Latin name for tin, stannum , originally meant an alloy of silver and lead, and came to mean 'tin' in

4095-561: The southern Levant in cities such as Hazor , Jericho , and Beit She'an . The Hittite Empire was established during the 18th century BC in Hattusa , northern Anatolia . At its height in the 14th century BC, the Hittite Kingdom encompassed central Anatolia, southwestern Syria as far as Ugarit , and upper Mesopotamia . After 1180 BC, amid general turmoil in the Levant , which

4200-422: The 16th to the 13th century BC, Ugarit remained in constant contact with Egypt and Cyprus ( Alashiya ). Mitanni was a loosely organised state in northern Syria and south-east Anatolia, emerging c.  1500–1300 BC . Founded by an Indo-Aryan ruling class that governed a predominantly Hurrian population, Mitanni came to be a regional power after the Hittite destruction of Kassite Babylon created

4305-430: The 3rd millennium BC. The Bronze Age is characterised by the widespread use of bronze , though the introduction and development of bronze technology were not universally synchronous. Tin bronze technology requires systematic techniques: tin must be mined (mainly as the tin ore cassiterite ) and smelted separately, then added to hot copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of extensive use of metals and

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4410-766: The 6th century BC attests to knowledge of iron smelting, yet bronze continues to occupy the seat of significance in the archaeological and historical record for some time after this. W. C. White argues that iron did not supplant bronze "at any period before the end of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC)" and that bronze vessels make up the majority of metal vessels through the Eastern Han period , or to 221 BC. The Chinese bronze artefacts generally are either utilitarian, like spear points or adze heads, or "ritual bronzes" , which are more elaborate versions in precious materials of everyday vessels, as well as tools and weapons. Examples are

4515-500: The BMAC had close international relations with the Indus Valley , the Iranian plateau , and possibly even indirectly with Mesopotamia. All civilisations were familiar with lost wax casting . According to a 2019 study, the BMAC was not a primary contributor to later South-Asian genetics. The Altai Mountains , in what is now southern Russia and central Mongolia , have been identified as

4620-635: The Bronze Age began in the Protodynastic Period c.  3150 BC . The archaic Early Bronze Age of Egypt , known as the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt , immediately followed the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt, c.  3100 BC . It is generally taken to include the First and Second dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period until c.  2686 BC , or

4725-578: The Early Bronze Age, the culture of the Kopet Dag oases and Altyndepe developed a proto-urban society. This corresponds to level IV at Namazga-Tepe . Altyndepe was a major centre even then. Pottery was wheel-turned. Grapes were grown. The height of this urban development was reached in the Middle Bronze Age c.  2300 BC , corresponding to level V at Namazga-Depe. This Bronze Age culture

4830-520: The Erlitou sites belong to the preceding Xia dynasty . The United States National Gallery of Art defines the Chinese Bronze Age as c.  2000  – c.  771 BC , a period that begins with the Erlitou culture and ends abruptly with the disintegration of Western Zhou rule. There is reason to believe that bronze work developed inside of China apart from outside influence. However,

4935-621: The Levant and were followed by the Amorite kingdoms , c.  2000–1600 BC , which arose in Mari , Yamhad , Qatna , and Assyria . From the 15th century BC onward, the term Amurru is usually applied to the region extending north of Canaan as far as Kadesh on the Orontes River . The earliest-known contact of Ugarit with Egypt (and the first exact dating of Ugaritic civilisation) comes from

5040-700: The Middle Bronze Age and Babylon , Calah , and Assur in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The Akkadian Empire (2335–2154 BC) became the dominant power in the region. After its fall, the Sumerians enjoyed a renaissance with the Neo-Sumerian Empire . Assyria , along with the Old Assyrian Empire ( c.  1800–1600 BC ), became a regional power under the Amorite king Shamshi-Adad I . The earliest mention of Babylon (then

5145-800: The Middle Kingdom. During the Second Intermediate Period , Ancient Egypt fell into disarray a second time between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom, best known for the Hyksos , whose reign comprised the Fifteenth and Sixteenth dynasties. The Hyksos first appeared in Egypt during the Eleventh Dynasty, began their climb to power in the Thirteenth Dynasty, and emerged from

5250-459: The Near East where arsenic is commonly found with copper ore, but the health risks were quickly realized and the quest for sources of the much less hazardous tin ores began early in the Bronze Age. This created the demand for rare tin metal and formed a trade network that linked the distant sources of tin to the markets of Bronze Age cultures. Cassiterite ( SnO 2 ), the oxide form of tin,

5355-550: The Osiris funerary cult rose to dominate popular Ancient Egyptian religion . The period comprises two phases: the Eleventh Dynasty, which ruled from Thebes, and the Twelfth and Thirteenth dynasties, centred on el-Lisht . The unified kingdom was previously considered to comprise the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties, but historians now consider part of the Thirteenth Dynasty to have belonged to

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5460-784: The Second Intermediate Period in control of Avaris and the Nile Delta . By the Fifteenth Dynasty, they ruled lower Egypt. They were expelled at the end of the Seventeenth Dynasty . The New Kingdom of Egypt , also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, existed during the 16th–11th centuries BC. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period . It

5565-481: The Theban kings conquered the north, reunifying Egypt under a single ruler during the second part of the Eleventh Dynasty . The Bronze Age in Nubia started as early as 2300 BC. Egyptians introduced copper smelting to the Nubian city of Meroë in present-day Sudan c.  2600 BC . A furnace for bronze casting found in Kerma has been dated to 2300–1900 BC. The Middle Kingdom of Egypt spanned between 2055 and 1650 BC. During this period,

5670-539: The Umayyad desert palaces, such as Qasr Amra , a World Heritage Site , Qasr al Hallabat , Qasr Shabib in the center of the city of Zarqa, as well as the Castle of Azraq. After the construction of the Hedjaz railway by the Ottoman Turks at the beginning of the 1900s, Zarqa became a strategically important hub that connects Damascus to Medina , the cities along the railway started flourishing. Later, Jordan's Arab Legion led by Glubb Pasha had its main bases in Zarqa. Zarqa Governorate borders Mafraq Governorate from

5775-480: The United States has neither mined (since 1993) nor smelted (since 1989) tin, it was the largest secondary producer, recycling nearly 14,000 tonnes in 2006. New deposits are reported in Mongolia , and in 2009, new deposits of tin were discovered in Colombia. Tin is produced by carbothermic reduction of the oxide ore with carbon or coke. Both reverberatory furnace and electric furnace can be used: The ten largest tin-producing companies produced most of

5880-503: The Western Zhou period, allowing them to trace the evolution of the vessels and the events they record. The Japanese archipelago saw the introduction of bronze during the early Yayoi period ( c.  300 BC ), which saw the introduction of metalworking and agricultural practices brought by settlers arriving from the continent. Bronze and iron smelting spread to the Japanese archipelago through contact with other ancient East Asian civilisations, particularly immigration and trade from

5985-496: The addition of antimony or bismuth the transformation might not occur at all, increasing durability. Commercial grades of tin (99.8% tin content) resist transformation because of the inhibiting effect of small amounts of bismuth, antimony, lead, and silver present as impurities. Alloying elements such as copper, antimony, bismuth, cadmium, and silver increase the hardness of tin. Tin easily forms hard, brittle intermetallic phases that are typically undesirable. It does not mix into

6090-399: The adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of the three-age system , following the Stone Age and preceding the Iron Age . Conceived as a global era, the Bronze Age follows the Neolithic , with a transition period between the two known as the Chalcolithic . The final decades of the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean basin are often characterised as

6195-445: The ancient Korean peninsula, and ancient mainland China. Iron was mainly used for agricultural and other tools, whereas ritual and ceremonial artefacts were mainly made of bronze. On the Korean Peninsula, the Bronze Age began c.  1000–800 BC . Initially centred around Liaoning and southern Manchuria, Korean Bronze Age culture exhibits unique typology and styles, especially in ritual objects. The Mumun pottery period

6300-422: The beginning of the Old Kingdom . With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Abydos to Memphis with a unified Egypt ruled by an Egyptian god-king. Abydos remained the major holy land in the south. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilisation, such as art, architecture and religion, took shape in the Early Dynastic Period. Memphis , in the Early Bronze Age, was the largest city of the time. The Old Kingdom of

6405-469: The complex agreements between producer countries and consumer countries dating back to 1921. Earlier agreements tended to be somewhat informal and led to the "First International Tin Agreement" in 1956, the first of a series that effectively collapsed in 1985. Through these agreements, the International Tin Council (ITC) had a considerable effect on tin prices. ITC supported the price of tin during periods of low prices by buying tin for its buffer stockpile and

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6510-425: The development of trade networks. A 2013 report suggests that the earliest tin-alloy bronze was a foil dated to the mid-5th millennium BC from a Vinča culture site in Pločnik , Serbia , although this culture is not conventionally considered part of the Bronze Age; however, the dating of the foil has been disputed. West Asia and the Near East were the first regions to enter the Bronze Age, beginning with

6615-444: The discovery of the Europoid Tarim mummies in Xinjiang has caused some archaeologists such as Johan Gunnar Andersson , Jan Romgard, and An Zhimin to suggest a possible route of transmission from the West eastwards. According to An Zhimin, "It can be imagined that initially, bronze and iron technology took its rise in West Asia, first influenced the Xinjiang region, and then reached the Yellow River valley, providing external impetus for

6720-471: The fall of the monarchy. The name "Israel" first appears c.  1209 BC , at the end of the Late Bronze Age and the very beginning of the Iron Age, on the Merneptah Stele raised by the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah . The Arameans were a Northwest Semitic semi-nomadic pastoral people who originated in what is now modern Syria (Biblical Aram ) during the Late Bronze and early Iron Age. Large groups migrated to Mesopotamia, where they intermingled with

6825-415: The first to develop writing . According to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia , which used cuneiform script, and Egypt , which used hieroglyphs , developed the earliest practical writing systems. Bronze Age civilisations gained a technological advantage due to bronze's harder and more durable properties than other metals available at the time. While terrestrial iron is naturally abundant,

6930-537: The fourth century —the earlier Latin word for it was plumbum candidum , or "white lead". Stannum apparently came from an earlier stāgnum (meaning the same substance), the origin of the Romance and Celtic terms for tin , such as French étain , Spanish estaño , Italian stagno , and Irish stán . The origin of stannum / stāgnum is unknown; it may be pre- Indo-European . The Meyers Konversations-Lexikon suggests instead that stannum came from Cornish stean , and

7035-439: The great majority of its compounds, tin has the oxidation state II or IV. Compounds containing bivalent tin are called stannous while those containing tetravalent tin are termed stannic . Halide compounds are known for both oxidation states. For Sn(IV), all four halides are well known: SnF 4 , SnCl 4 , SnBr 4 , and SnI 4 . The three heavier members are volatile molecular compounds, whereas

7140-428: The headwaters of the Khabur River . Eventually, Mitanni succumbed to the Hittites and later Assyrian attacks, eventually being reduced to a province of the Middle Assyrian Empire . The Israelites were an ancient Semitic-speaking people of the Ancient Near East who inhabited part of Canaan during the tribal and monarchic periods (15th–6th centuries BC), and lived in the region in smaller numbers after

7245-636: The higher temperature required for smelting, 1,250 °C (2,280 °F), in addition to the greater difficulty of working with it, placed it out of reach of common use until the end of the 2nd millennium BC. Tin's lower melting point of 232 °C (450 °F) and copper's moderate melting point of 1,085 °C (1,985 °F) placed both these metals within the capabilities of Neolithic pottery kilns , which date to 6000 BC and were able to produce temperatures of at least 900 °C (1,650 °F). Copper and tin ores are rare since there were no tin bronzes in West Asia before trading in bronze began in

7350-430: The largest in the country, is located in Azraq . Zarqa Governorate hosts three universities, Hashemite University , Al-Balqa` Applied University -Zarqa College, and Zarqa Private University . Bronze Age The Bronze Age ( c.  3300  – c.  1200 BC ) was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as

7455-451: The late 1970s and early 1980s, the U.S. reduced its strategic tin stockpile, partly to take advantage of historically high tin prices. The 1981–82 recession damaged the tin industry. Tin consumption declined dramatically. ITC was able to avoid truly steep declines through accelerated buying for its buffer stockpile; this activity required extensive borrowing. ITC continued to borrow until late 1985 when it reached its credit limit. Immediately,

7560-451: The market and mining technology. It is estimated that, at current consumption rates and technologies, the Earth will run out of mine-able tin in 40 years. In 2006 Lester Brown suggested tin could run out within 20 years based on conservative estimates of 2% annual growth. Scrap tin is an important source of the metal. Recovery of tin through recycling is increasing rapidly as of 2019. Whereas

7665-412: The most stable being tin-121m, with a half-life of 43.9 years. The relative differences in the abundances of tin's stable isotopes can be explained by how they are formed during stellar nucleosynthesis . Tin-116 through tin-120, along with tin-122, are formed in the s -process (slow neutron capture) in most stars which leads to them being the most common tin isotopes, while tin-124 is only formed in

7770-493: The native Akkadian (Assyrian and Babylonian) population. The Aramaeans never had a unified empire; they were divided into independent kingdoms all across the Near East. After the Bronze Age collapse, their political influence was confined to Syro-Hittite states, which were entirely absorbed into the Neo-Assyrian Empire by the 8th century BC. The Mesopotamian Bronze Age began c.  3500 BC and ended with

7875-552: The north and north east, Amman Governorate from the south and south west, Jerash and Balqa Governorates from the west. It also shares an international border with Saudi Arabia in its south eastern edge. Most of the area covered by the governorate constitutes part of the Syrian desert plateau. the heavily populated western regions of the governorate constitute part of the Zarqa River basin. The two cities of Zarqa and Russeifa are

7980-408: The numerous large sacrificial tripods known as dings ; there are many other distinct shapes. Surviving identified Chinese ritual bronzes tend to be highly decorated, often with the taotie motif, which involves stylised animal faces. These appear in three main motif types: those of demons, symbolic animals, and abstract symbols. Many large bronzes also bear cast inscriptions that are the bulk of

8085-688: The origins of agriculture. Foothill regions and glacial melt streams supported Bronze Age agro-pastoralists who developed complex east–west trade routes between Central Asia and China that introduced wheat and barley to China and millet to Central Asia. The Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), also known as the Oxus civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in Central Asia, dated c.  2400  – c.  1600 BC , located in present-day northern Afghanistan , eastern Turkmenistan , southern Uzbekistan and western Tajikistan , centred on

8190-578: The point of origin of a cultural enigma termed the Seima-Turbino Phenomenon . It is conjectured that changes in climate in this region c.  2000 BC }}, and the ensuing ecological, economic, and political changes, triggered a rapid and massive migration westward into northeast Europe, eastward into China, and southward into Vietnam and Thailand across a frontier of some 4,000 mi (6,000 km). This migration took place in just five to six generations and led to peoples from Finland in

8295-561: The primary lodes. Tin is often recovered from granules washed downstream in the past and deposited in valleys or the sea. The most economical ways of mining tin are by dredging , hydraulicking , or open pits . Most of the world's tin is produced from placer deposits, which can contain as little as 0.015% tin. About 253,000 tonnes of tin were mined in 2011, mostly in China (110,000 t), Indonesia (51,000 t), Peru (34,600 t), Bolivia (20,700 t) and Brazil (12,000 t). Estimates of tin production have historically varied with

8400-472: The reaction of hydrochloric acid and tin produces SnCl 2 and hydrogen gas. Alternatively SnCl 4 and Sn combine to stannous chloride by a process called comproportionation : Tin can form many oxides, sulfides, and other chalcogenide derivatives. The dioxide SnO 2 (cassiterite) forms when tin is heated in the presence of air . SnO 2 is amphoteric , which means that it dissolves in both acidic and basic solutions. Stannates with

8505-521: The region laid the foundations for astronomy , mathematics, and astrology . The following dates are approximate. The Bronze Age in the Near East can be divided into Early, Middle and Late periods. The dates and phases below apply solely to the Near East, not universally. However, some archaeologists propose a "high chronology", which extends periods such as the Intermediate Bronze Age by 300 to 500–600 years, based on material analysis of

8610-466: The regional Bronze Age is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egyptian civilisation attained its first continuous peak of complexity and achievement—the first of three "Kingdom" periods which marked the high points of civilisation in the lower Nile Valley (the others being the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom ). The First Intermediate Period of Egypt , often described as

8715-456: The result of unintentional alloying due to trace metal content in the copper ore. The addition of a second metal to copper increases its hardness, lowers the melting temperature, and improves the casting process by producing a more fluid melt that cools to a denser, less spongy metal. This was an important innovation that allowed for the much more complex shapes cast in closed molds of the Bronze Age. Arsenical bronze objects appear first in

8820-648: The rise of the Mesopotamian civilisation of Sumer in the mid-4th millennium BC. Cultures in the ancient Near East practised intensive year-round agriculture; developed writing systems ; invented the potter's wheel , created centralised governments (usually in the form of hereditary monarchies ), formulated written law codes, developed city-states , nation-states and empires; embarked on advanced architectural projects; and introduced social stratification , economic and civil administration, slavery , and practised organised warfare, medicine, and religion. Societies in

8925-530: The rise of the Shang and Zhou civilizations." According to Jan Romgard, "bronze and iron tools seem to have traveled from west to east as well as the use of wheeled wagons and the domestication of the horse." There are also possible links to Seima-Turbino culture , "a transcultural complex across northern Eurasia", the Eurasian steppe, and the Urals. However, the oldest bronze objects found in China so far were discovered at

9030-402: The second and fourth largest cities in Jordan. The census of 2004 shows that the population of Zarqa Governorate for that year was 764,650 of whom 94.5% is considered urban population and 5.5% is a rural population. Jordanian citizens made up 97% of the population. The female to male ratio was 46% to 54%. The Jordanian Department of Statistics population estimate for the year 2010 is 910,800 with

9135-415: The second lowest (ahead of lead ) in its group. The melting point is further lowered to 177.3 °C (351.1 °F) for 11 nm particles. β-tin, also called white tin , is the allotrope (structural form) of elemental tin that is stable at and above room temperature. It is metallic and malleable, and has body-centered tetragonal crystal structure. α-tin, or gray tin , is the nonmetallic form. It

9240-682: The socket, which could be associated with the Seima-Turbino visual vocabulary of southern Siberia. The metallurgical centres of northwestern China, especially the Qijia culture in Gansu and Longshan culture in Shaanxi , played an intermediary role in this process. Iron use in China dates as early as the Zhou dynasty ( c.  1046  – 256 BC), but remained minimal. Chinese literature authored during

9345-509: The southern Korean Peninsula gradually adopted bronze production ( c.  700–600 BC ) after a period when Liaoning-style bronze daggers and other bronze artefacts were exchanged as far as the interior part of the Southern Peninsula ( c.  900–700 BC ). The bronze daggers lent prestige and authority to the personages who wielded and were buried with them in high-status megalithic burials at south-coastal centres such as

9450-586: The stable isotopes, tin-115 has a high neutron capture cross section for fast neutrons, at 30 barns . Tin-117 has a cross section of 2.3 barns, one order of magnitude smaller, while tin-119 has a slightly smaller cross section of 2.2 barns. Before these cross sections were well known, it was proposed to use tin-lead solder as a coolant for fast reactors because of its low melting point. Current studies are for lead or lead-bismuth reactor coolants because both heavy metals are nearly transparent to fast neutrons, with very low capture cross sections. In order to use

9555-678: The structure [ Sn(OH) 6 ] , like K 2 [ Sn(OH) 6 ], are also known, though the free stannic acid H 2 [ Sn(OH) 6 ] is unknown. Sulfides of tin exist in both the +2 and +4 oxidation states: tin(II) sulfide and tin(IV) sulfide ( mosaic gold ). Stannane ( SnH 4 ), with tin in the +4 oxidation state, is unstable. Organotin hydrides are however well known, e.g. tributyltin hydride (Sn(C 4 H 9 ) 3 H). These compounds release transient tributyl tin radicals, which are rare examples of compounds of tin(III). Organotin compounds, sometimes called stannanes, are chemical compounds with tin–carbon bonds. Of

9660-468: The surviving body of early Chinese writing and have helped historians and archaeologists piece together the history of China, especially during the Zhou dynasty. The bronzes of the Western Zhou document large portions of history not found in the extant texts that were often composed by persons of varying rank and possibly even social class. Further, the medium of cast bronze lends the record they preserve

9765-420: The tetrafluoride is polymeric. All four halides are known for Sn(II) also: SnF 2 , SnCl 2 , SnBr 2 , and SnI 2 . All are polymeric solids. Of these eight compounds, only the iodides are colored. Tin(II) chloride (also known as stannous chloride) is the most important commercial tin halide. Illustrating the routes to such compounds, chlorine reacts with tin metal to give SnCl 4 whereas

9870-523: The tetraorgano derivatives, are prepared by redistribution reactions : Divalent organotin compounds are uncommon, although more common than related divalent organogermanium and organosilicon compounds. The greater stabilization enjoyed by Sn(II) is attributed to the " inert pair effect ". Organotin(II) compounds include both stannylenes (formula: R 2 Sn, as seen for singlet carbenes ) and distannylenes (R 4 Sn 2 ), which are roughly equivalent to alkenes . Both classes exhibit unusual reactions. Tin

9975-588: The tin compounds, the organic derivatives are commercially the most useful. Some organotin compounds are highly toxic and have been used as biocides . The first organotin compound to be reported was diethyltin diiodide ((C 2 H 5 ) 2 SnI 2 ), reported by Edward Frankland in 1849. Most organotin compounds are colorless liquids or solids that are stable to air and water. They adopt tetrahedral geometry. Tetraalkyl- and tetraaryltin compounds can be prepared using Grignard reagents : The mixed halide-alkyls, which are more common and more important commercially than

10080-557: The upper Amu Darya (Oxus River). Its sites were discovered and named by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi (1976). Bactria was the Greek name for the area of Bactra (modern Balkh ), in what is now northern Afghanistan, and Margiana was the Greek name for the Persian satrapy of Marguš , the capital of which was Merv in present-day Turkmenistan. A wealth of information indicates that

10185-403: The west to Thailand in the east employing the same metalworking technology and, in some areas, horse breeding and riding. However, recent genetic testings of sites in south Siberia and Kazakhstan ( Andronovo horizon) would rather support spreading of the bronze technology via Indo-European migrations eastwards, as this technology had been well known for quite a while in western regions. It

10290-586: The world's tin in 2007. Most of the world's tin is traded on LME, from 8 countries, under 17 brands. The International Tin Council was established in 1947 to control the price of tin. It collapsed in 1985. In 1984, the Association of Tin Producing Countries was created, with Australia, Bolivia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, and Zaire as members. Tin is unique among mineral commodities because of

10395-525: The written East Semitic Akkadian language for official use and as a spoken language. By that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use in Assyria and Babylonia, and would remain so until the 1st century AD. The Akkadian and Sumerian traditions played a major role in later Assyrian and Babylonian culture. Despite this, Babylonia, unlike the more militarily powerful Assyria,

10500-502: Was Egypt's most prosperous time and marked the peak of Egypt's power. The later New Kingdom, comprising the Nineteenth and Twentieth dynasties (1292–1069 BC), is also known as the Ramesside period , after the eleven pharaohs who took the name of Ramesses. Elam was a pre-Iranian ancient civilisation located east of Mesopotamia. In the Middle Bronze Age, Elam consisted of kingdoms on

10605-458: Was able to restrain the price during periods of high prices by selling from the stockpile. This was an anti-free-market approach, designed to assure a sufficient flow of tin to consumer countries and a profit for producer countries. However, the buffer stockpile was not sufficiently large, and during most of those 29 years tin prices rose, sometimes sharply, especially from 1973 through 1980 when rampant inflation plagued many world economies. During

10710-461: Was founded by non-native Amorites and often ruled by other non-indigenous peoples such as the Kassites , Aramaeans and Chaldeans , as well as by its Assyrian neighbours. For many decades, scholars made superficial reference to Central Asia as the "pastoral realm" or alternatively, the "nomadic world", in what researchers call the "Central Asian void": a 5,000-year span that was neglected in studies of

10815-549: Was most likely the original source of tin. Other tin ores are less common sulfides such as stannite that require a more involved smelting process. Cassiterite often accumulates in alluvial channels as placer deposits because it is harder, heavier, and more chemically resistant than the accompanying granite . Cassiterite is usually black or dark in color, and these deposits can be easily seen in river banks . Alluvial ( placer ) deposits may incidentally have been collected and separated by methods similar to gold panning . In

10920-574: Was the western neighbour of the Middle and New Hittite Kingdoms , at times a rival and, at other times, a vassal. The Assuwa league was a confederation of states in western Anatolia defeated by the Hittites under the earlier Tudhaliya I c.  1400 BC . Arzawa has been associated with the more obscure Assuwa generally located to its north. It probably bordered it, and may have been an alternative term for it during some periods. In Ancient Egypt ,

11025-415: Was used in solder. The rest was divided between tin plating, tin chemicals, brass and bronze alloys, and niche uses. Pigment Yellow 38, tin(IV) sulfide , is known as mosaic gold . Purple of Cassius , Pigment Red 109, a hydrous double stannate of gold , was mainly, in terms of painting, restricted to miniatures due to its high cost. It was widely used to make cranberry glass . It has also been used in

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