|
|
THE COPPER INDUSTRY IN THE CHALCOLITHIC PERIOD IN ISRAEL:
THE FINDINGS FROM GIVE'AT HA'ORANIM
*Dvory Namdar (Dept. of Archaeology, Tel-Aviv University and Structural
Biology Dept., Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel)
Prof. Yuval Goren (Dept. of Archaeology, Tel-Aviv University, Israel)
Dr. Shalev Sariel (Dept. of Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute
of Science, Rehovot, Israel)
A new hoard of Chalcolithic (ca. 4500-3500 BC) copper objects was found
in the site of Give'at Ha'Oranim, Israel, during the 1996-1997 excavation
seasons. This hoard contains objects that are typologically similar to
the ones that were found in the "Cave of the Treasure" in Nahal
Mishmar, in the Israeli Judean Desert. This treasure holds over 450 metal
objects, rapped together with mat. These items are traditionally divided
into two groups: a) the "prestige" objects, made of copper alloys,
mainly with significant levels of arsenic, antimony and nickel and made
in the "lost wax" technique; and b) "working" tools
- metal goods in the form of implements, made of relatively pure copper
that are manufactured through a process of casting, hammering and annealing.
The new findings from Give'at Ha'Oranim include both "prestige"
objects as well as "working" tools, along with alloyed-copper
lumps. These objects were found in several small and separated caches,
escort with basalt fenestrated stands, malachite maceheads, bone tools
and so on typical Chalcolithic status objects.
According to numerous metallurgical and metallographical tests conducted
on those items, we tried to clarify two questions that are in the state
of the art today: Whether we can justify the dichotomy that is usually
made between the two groups mentioned above; and whether the "working
tools" were really used to perform the work related to them. Evaluating
all the analysis, it seems that the differentiation between the two groups
is no longer valid, and that the metal objects from the two groups should
be considered as one assembly, derived from the same production motivation.
Moreover, to this day, the common notion is that the local advent of southern
Levantine metallurgy begins in the northern Negev of Israel, at sites
such as Abu Matar, Bir Safadi and Shiqmim. According to our petrographical
and metallurgical analysis, we can demonstrate now that the petrography
of the ceramic cores of the copper objects points towards a totally deferent
location of production centers. We may suggest an updated geographical
area in which the copper items were manufactured during the Chalcolithic
period in the Levant - the central region of the Israeli Shfella.
|
