Which problem was exacerbated in early Mesopotamian copper metallurgy by sulfur impurities in the ore?

💡 Explanation

When copper ore contained sulfur, smelting produced copper sulfide inclusions that disrupted the metal's grain structure creating intergranular brittleness during deformation. Therefore, increased hardness and brittleness resulted, rather than corrosion, reduced melting point, or porosity which require oxidizing conditions or insufficient carbon reduction.

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