Explanation: Ea-nāṣir is a copper trader mentioned in the "complaint tablet to Ea-nāṣir" (UET V 81), written around 1750 BCE. It is sometimes said to be "the oldest known customer complaint".
this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
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Also Ea-nasir was probably keeping them around for legal reasons. Like saving a letter or text in case some uppity fuck takes you to court, also the guy who wrote the most famous tablet owed Ea-nasir money.
Customer complaints prior to that were in club form.
Metal is the best stuff to recycle. Glass takes a lot of energy to melt into new shapes, so if possible, it's better to reuse it as is. Paper products are OK. Anything plastic is somewhere between bad and no.
Pre BC? So like prehistoric copper???
There are thousands of years that happened before Christ that are part of history, or in other words, writing was in use for thousands of years before Christ.
Also, not sure what's so surprising about figuring out metallurgy before using writing.
Yes, but that is BC. What then is 'pre BC'?
“Pre BC” is pretty much redundant and makes no sense. There is no “before before christ”. BCE, BC, or Bronze Age would all have been correct.
You're right, I hadn't even noticed this. My brain corrected it as I was reading without me realizing.
So, "before before Christ". Like, even before the concept of before Christ. Which brings us before time. Before the universe itself.
Copper only appeared after the beginning of the universe...
The concept of "Before Christ" only arrived "After Christ".
One cannot have a concept of a negative who's positive has not yet been made known. The absence of Christ could not have been conceptualized before the presence of Christ.
Edit for clarity:
In other words, Pre-BC is still just BC because to be before the concept of BC one must only come before C.
That makes sense.
Some think we are using copper that is so old it's from even before the pre-BC times.
from even before the pre-BC times
Uh, isn't all of time the pre-BC times? How could you be before that?
Are you referring to the pre-before-pre-BC times? The post-BC times do not count as before that so not all of time is pre-BC.
But ultimately yes, that was the joke I was making.
Pre BC? How far back is that? Once we get to millions I guess BC/AD is a rounding error. Fucking dinosaur mines.
I mean, being an element, why wouldn't it be? Isn't exactly going to decompose or decay
Unlike iron, which oxidizes and flakes off to dust, possibly never to be mined again if it washes out to sea and sinks to the ocean floor
Unlike iron, which oxidizes and flakes off to dust
Copper's patina is oxidation and can flake off. It's what makes the statue of Liberty green.
Purity and difficulty/cost in getting out recycling impurities vs raw ore impurities.
I think the mind bend is the idea that the copper you're holding might have been unearthed thousands of years ago and processed for different usage many times over.