Analysis of dozens of silver hoards from the Bronze and Iron Ages and 230 chemical samples shows an established weight economy, standards, and even counterfeits – from the 17th century BC to the 6th century BC; led by Dr. Tzilla Eshel
An interdisciplinary study conducted at the University of Haifa found that money was used as a means of payment in the Land of Israel about 3,600 years ago, long before the invention of currency, and that for about 1,500 years, money played a distinct economic role that changed over time. The study, published in the journal Journal of World Prehistory, is based on a systematic analysis of dozens of silver hoards from the Bronze and Iron Ages, discovered at archaeological sites across the country. "The findings show that although there were no coins, silver was in regular use as a means of payment that was kept for future transactions, both by institutions and by individuals," said Dr. Tzilla Eshel of the School of Archaeology and Maritime Civilizations at the University of Haifa, the study's author. According to her, the continuous use of silver over hundreds of years indicates the existence of a well-established economic system, which developed gradually and also included periods of change, adaptation, and even counterfeiting.
In the ancient Near East, silver was used as a means of payment as early as the 3rd millennium BC, mainly in Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Syria. In the Land of Israel, which has no natural sources of silver, dozens of hoards from the Bronze and Iron Ages have been discovered, but for years researchers believed that these were surplus silversmiths' crafts, hoards of raw metal, or foundation offerings. Dr. Eshel, who has previously studied the sources of silver that came to the region, wanted to examine whether these hoards might have actually been used as a means of payment based on weight, and what can be learned from them about the nature of the economy that operated in the Land of Israel in ancient times.
As part of the study, the researcher analyzed dozens of silver hoards discovered at various archaeological sites across the country, dating from the 6th-20th centuries BC. Each hoard was examined according to the date of burial, the type of structure in which it was found, the social and economic context, and the content of the items it contained – including: silver ingots, broken jewelry, and pieces of shards preserved by weight. In addition, precise chemical analyses were performed on approximately 230 items from 19 hoards, in order to identify the composition of the metal, detect additions of copper and arsenic, and track changes in the purity of the silver over time.
Multi-period analysis
Unlike her previous studies that focused on a single site or period, in the current study, the researcher sought to paint a broad picture of the use of money over a period of about 1,500 years, and to identify cumulative economic processes. The results of the study indicate that as early as the 17th century BC, systematic use of money as a means of payment began in the Land of Israel, earlier than in neighboring regions, such as Egypt and Greece. The earliest hoards used as a means of payment were discovered in Shiloh and Gezer, indicating the early presence of silver weighed for trade purposes.
In the Late Bronze Age, they apparently temporarily switched to using gold, but starting in the 13th century BC, silver returned to being used as the main means of payment. Starting in the 12th century and for hundreds of years thereafter, there was an increase in the number of hoards, their geographical distribution, and the amount of silver in them – a trend that indicates the establishment of a market economy based on silver. While in ancient periods, money was mainly buried in public buildings, in the Iron Age hoards were also found in private homes. This phenomenon indicates the penetration of the means of payment into everyday civilian use. Broken or cut items were found in many of the hoards, evidence that they were not used as jewelry but as actual means of payment, according to their weight.
Counterfeit detection and inflation
Analysis of the chemical composition of the silver items revealed that in ancient times silver was relatively pure, but from the 12th to the 10th century BC, alloys appeared in which metals such as copper and arsenic were deliberately mixed. This phenomenon may indicate attempts to devalue silver or to disguise a decrease in its purity, and sometimes even deliberate counterfeiting. "The first coins were only invented in the 7th century BC, but principles of a monetary system were in operation here centuries earlier, with principles such as uniformity, control of the value of the currency, and even phenomena of counterfeiting. The continuous use of silver indicates an advanced economy that gradually developed from within the society itself," concluded Dr. Eshel.
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