According to Dr. Danny Rosenberg, an archaeologist from the Department of Archeology at the University of Haifa, this is a unique and very rare item, the discovery of which, in addition to other items discovered in the excavation at the Tel Tsef site in the Jordan Valley, indicates that it was a central site and a hub for international trade at the time
The earliest metal item found so far in the Middle East, a copper spear, was found in excavations at Tel-Zef, according to a new study published by researchers from the Department of Archeology and the Zinman Institute at the University of Haifa, in collaboration with researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Archaeological Institute in Berlin. According to the study, which was published in the prestigious magazine PLOS one, the awl dates to the end of the 6th millennium or the beginning of the 5th millennium BC, and thus it actually precedes by hundreds of years the date that was accepted until now when the peoples of the region began to use metals.
Tel-Zef, a settlement from the Middle Chalcolithic period (5200-4600 years BC), in the Jordan Valley is located on the banks of the Jordan River near the international border with Jordan. The site was first documented in the 50s and was excavated starting in the late 70s and is the most important archaeological site from the first excavation seasons to the renewed research project led by Dr. Danny Rosenberg from the University Haifa in collaboration with Dr. Florian Klimsch from the Archaeological Institute in Berlin, the site provided the researchers with valuable information.
For example, the researchers found out about the great wealth of the settlement and the long-term trade relations it had thanks to particularly large buildings that were made of mud bricks and a large number of storage silos where wheat and barley grains were stored in unprecedented volumes, many roasting ovens, which testified to events with many participants and many finds Additional items include obsidian items (volcanic glass originating in Anatolia or Armenia), one shell originating from the Nile River in Egypt and other shells from the Mediterranean Sea, human and animal figurines, unique pottery that is not known from almost any other site in the region, and more.
However, it turns out that the most unique find so far was no larger than 4 cm. Already in a previous excavation at the site, Prof. Yosef Garfinkel from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found a thin awl about 4 cm long and about 1 mm thick at the tip, which was fixed with a wooden handle. Beads made from ostrich eggs from 40. The tomb itself was covered by several large stones and its presence in a silo testifies, according to Dr. Rosenberg, to both the importance of the burial and the facility in which she was buried to the members of the community.
However, while the tomb, the woman's skeleton and the bead belt have already been published in the scientific journals, the small awl was published only recently after its chemical composition was tested by Prof. Shariel Shalu from the Department of Archeology at the University of Haifa. As mentioned, an examination of the awl revealed that it is made of copper. According to Dr. Rosenberg, the fact that it was found in a sealed grave indicates that it was buried together with the woman as a burial offering and may have been her personal item. The great importance of the item is that until today researchers thought that the inhabitants of the area only started using metals in the middle of the fifth millennium BC, So its discovery predates the appearance of metal in our region by several hundred years and has significant implications for our understanding of the development of the use of complex technologies and the social circumstances associated with it.
But this did not end the secrets of the eagle. From the chemical examination of the metal, it emerged that it likely originated in the Caucasus Mountains, which are over 1000 km away from Tel-Zef. According to Dr. Rosenberg, while long-term trade relations of settlements in our region are known even from earlier periods, the combination of importing technology new related to the processing of new raw material from such distant sources is unique to Tel Tsaf and joins many other testimonies to the importance of the site.
Researchers still do not know what exactly the awl was used for, but the very early use of the metal, as well as the remote origin of the metal, indicates the high social status of the woman and the importance of the structure in which she was found. "The appearance of the item in the grave of a woman who represents one of the rich burials known in our region from this period of time indicates both the importance of the awl and the importance of the woman, and it is possible that we can see here the buds of complexity and social hierarchy. Despite this, in this field there is more hidden than visible and even though discovery The copper awl at Tel Tsef is evidence of an early peak in the technological development of the populations of the area and a discovery of global importance, the significant progress is still ahead of us And many parts of the overall picture are still unknown. As we can already see, it seems that at least some of the questions raised by this rare item have been answered within the framework of the multidisciplinary research project that we have been conducting on the site since last year, a project that combines archaeologists and other Israeli researchers from a variety of scientific disciplines, while questions Many and even more complex will undoubtedly arise," concluded Dr. Rosenberg.
