Misplaced Pages

#869130

45-700: The Beersheba Culture is thought to be a phase, or a subculture, of the Ghassulian Culture , though other Ghassulian sites in the Negev had been settled a couple of centuries before the Beersheba Culture appeared. The settlements discovered in Bir Abu Matar belong to the Chalcolithic period, Beersheba Culture , and can be divided into 3 distinct settlement phases , each with its own particular architecture :

90-405: A chalice - a bowl set on a high, fenestrated , base (creating the impression that the bowl is standing on several legs that are connected at the bottom). It is very likely that these sets of unique vessels were used for ritualistic purposes. They were not manufactured on site, but rather imported, probably from the northern parts of contemporary Israel or from southern Syria , from the region of

135-564: A growing regulation and sequestration of exterior spaces. Many flint tools were discovered in Teleilat el-Ghassul, mainly axes , hoes and sickles , which had probably been used for agriculture . Particularly worthy of note are the fan scrapers - a flat flint tool shaped as a fan - which were mainly used for skinning and butchering animals, and for hide working, but possibly also for working bone and for cutting wood. They may have also had ritualistic significance. The pottery assemblage

180-429: A horizontal entry tunnel. The ceilings of those houses soon collapsed, and the locals began building houses of a different type: those usually contained several round or oval rooms, the size of which was about 3.5 x 4.0 meters. These houses were dug relatively deep under the surface, leaving a thick layer of soil between their ceiling and the ground above. All the rooms were connected by tunnels, at least one of which led to

225-578: A vertical entry shaft, leading to the surface. These shafts sometimes had staircases built in them or carved out of the wall. Around the top of such entry shafts the residents usually dug a shallow depression that served as a yard. Most of the rooms contained storage spaces dug in their floors which the residents kept covered with large stone slabs. Charred grains of food crops were discovered in some of them. Many rooms also contained pits of different sizes, some of which had been sealed with plaster, which indicates that they had been used for storing water. Most of

270-598: Is one of the Ghassulian phases of that site; for more details, please read Teleilat el Ghassul#Excavations ) . Animal husbandry was the main sources of subsistence for the residents of Bir Abu Matar. They bred sheep , goats , cattle and pigs . An examination of the animal bones discovered on the site reveals that the average age of death of the local farm animals had been high. This indicates that secondary use of these animals - for instance, for dairy production - had been considerable. The pottery assemblages also point to

315-433: Is particularly rich, utilizing different shapes and decorations. Also, a vessel that was probably used as a butter churn was found on site. It is a large, broad, vessel, with a handle at each end. Much of the Ghassulian pottery was made standing on mats, which left an imprint of the mat design on the bottom of the vessels. The most impressive discovery at Teleilat el-Ghassul is the colorful wall paintings found in some of

360-916: The Golan Heights or from the Hauran , where this stone is plentiful. The presence of similar sets of tools made from clay in other houses indicates that these basalt vessels may have also served as symbols of status, indicating an early phase of social stratification in Late Chalcolithic Levantine societies. Many different flint tools were discovered in Bir Abu Matar, mostly scrapers , tools for cutting and drills. Limestone tools and tools made of other types of hard stone were also manufactured locally - hoes , club heads, small discs, platters, figurines , pendants. Few bone tools were made or used in Bir Abu Matar - mostly picks, needles, combs and sickles. The large variety of objects and artifacts used by

405-455: The 5th millennium BC. It has also been suggested that the residents of these sites had been accustomed to changing their lifestyle as circumstances dictated - from nomadic to sedentary and vice versa - and that the abandonment incidents and the subsequent re-settling incidents had been a result of such lifestyle changes, probably in response to changing circumstances. It is possible that the population of this culture mixed with new immigrants from

450-458: The Beersheba culture had been abandoned by their settlers. It is evident the residents intended to return - many houses were found, during excavations, with all their rooms sealed with large stone slabs and all the family's house appliances sealed neatly in one of the storage spaces. It may have been due to climate changes or because of a deterioration of security conditions in the region at the end of

495-532: The area, therefore it seems the ore was brought here from Wadi Feynan , in the southern Jordan Rift Valley , or, possibly, even from Timna , where an ancient mine was discovered, attributed by Beno Rothenberg to the Chalcolithic era. Many remains of copper ore, including several slag cores , have been found in Bir Abu Matar. Several kilograms of copper ore were discovered near a pair of flat flint stones that were probably used for grinding it. The ground material then received initial processing in regular ovens, and

SECTION 10

#1732855211870

540-541: The basal layers - were dated to the Late Neolithic . He also discerned 5 episodes of campfloor occupation, interleaved with those of more substantial architecture. The topmost layer of the site had apparently been eroded by nature and by human activity, and might actually have represented several separate occupation phases. Hennessy conducted excavations on the site again from 1975 to 1977. Another team from The University of Sydney , led by Stephen J. Bourke , worked on

585-480: The earliest settlers built underground dwellings, dug in the soft loess . Later, when some of these homes collapsed - their ceilings had caved in - new, semi-underground houses were built on top of the old ones. In the 3rd and final phase the settlers built their homes completely above ground. During all phases, houses usually contained one large central room connected to up to 10 other rooms located around it. The population had never exceeded 200 people. Bir Abu Matar

630-556: The existence of trading relations with the Red Sea coastline and with the Mediterranean coastline. Huge shells were also found in the Beersheba sites, that could only have been imported from the Nile Valley . Ivory statuettes of this culture include motifs found in artifacts from pre-dynastic Upper Egypt ( Amratian and Gerzean cultures). It is not known for sure why the sites of

675-517: The first phase of settlement, the people of the Beersheba culture lived in underground dwellings, dug in the soft loess of the Beersheba Valley. Several of these settlements were constructed in the banks of the Beersheba Creek, in areas where water could be obtained by digging wells. In the second phase, semi-subterranean houses were built on top of underground houses that had collapsed and, in

720-480: The floors of the rooms of the houses indicate that the locals produced an excess of food, beyond their immediate, everyday, needs. This is why they required a lot of storage space, and they also needed to protect it from rodents and from other pests, which is why those storage spaces were sealed with large slabs of stone. Signs of an extensive copper industry have been found in Bir Abu Matar, including remains of copper and of Malachite . There are no copper deposits in

765-795: The floors of these rooms were found covered in ash, pottery sherds , animal bones, etc., indicating these houses were used as a living space. Houses of this type are best suited for a climate where the days are hot and the nights are cold, since the temperature in them remains even throughout the day. These houses had ventilation shafts which mostly drew air from the western side of the settlement. Many small ceramic bowls were discovered during excavations - those were probably used as primitive lamps, since these subterranean houses had been immersed in permanent darkness and needed to be artificially illuminated. Most of these underground houses had been abandoned by their owners. Houses with sealed storage spaces containing neatly arranged house appliances were discovered on

810-415: The house with stone slabs before leaving. These evidence point to the abandonment of the site being a planned action. Several hypotheses were proposed to explain these abandonment events: No evidence found on site indicate that the cause for the abandonment had been violence, an attack on the settlement. Beersheba Culture The Beersheba culture is a Late Chalcolithic archaeological culture of

855-511: The houses dated to the Chalcolithic period (though they are not present in the earliest Chalcolithic phases). They were applied to the wall on top of a layer of plaster . Their condition is poor and many are missing today. The largest and most complete of those is 1.84 meters in diameter. It is very accurate and delicate, displaying a rather developed painting technique which likely involved the use of rulers to draw neat straight lines. Some of

900-449: The houses from the previous occupational phases (subterranean and semi-subterranean). Of the houses belonging to this phase only the stone foundations have survived. The rooms were rectangular, with average dimensions of approximately 3 x 7 meters, with some reaching the length of 15 meters. Perrot estimated there was a connection between this phase and Level IV in Teleilat el Ghassul (which

945-466: The importance of dairy in the lives of the locals: it includes butter churns shaped like waterskins and horn shaped goblets . Grains of wheat , barley , and lentils , were discovered in houses on the different sites, and also grinding stones that had been used for grain. The multitude of storage spaces dug into the floors of the houses indicates the people of the Beersheba culture produced an excess of food for which they needed storage space that

SECTION 20

#1732855211870

990-419: The importance of dairy in the lives of the locals: it includes butter churns shaped like waterskins and horn shaped goblets . Butter churns of this type are not present in assemblages postdating the Chalcolithic era. Grains of wheat and barley , and also of lentils , were discovered on the site. Grinding stones for grain have also been found. The presence of so many pits and storage spaces dug into

1035-466: The late 5th millennium BC (c. 4200–4000 BC), that was discovered in several sites near Beersheba , in the Beersheba Valley , in the northern Negev , in the 1950s. It is considered to be a phase of the Ghassulian culture . Its main sites are Bir Abu Matar , Bir Tzafad and Bir Safadi, but additional sites belonging to this cultural phase have been discovered in other parts of southern Israel . In

1080-504: The local population indicate that they had trading relationships with neighboring and with far away settlements. This is also consistent with the tendency of the various sites of the Berrsheba Culture to specialize in different types of industry. Basalt tools were imported from the north, probably from the Hauran . A large basalt bowl had been discovered in the Sea of Galilee , Copper ore from

1125-431: The metal had cooled off. No other metalworking instruments, nor instruments that could have been used for increasing the air flow inside the furnaces, were discovered in Bir Abu Matar. Several copper artifacts were found at the site, which had been probably manufactured locally, including several round club heads and various types of copper jewellery. Other copper tools - axes , plows and other instruments - were found on

1170-461: The north to form the regional population of the Early Bronze Age in the region. Teleilat el Ghassul#Excavations 31°48′00″N 35°36′00″E  /  31.80000°N 35.60000°E  / 31.80000; 35.60000 Teleilat el-Ghassul , also spelled Tuleilat el-Ghassul and Tulaylât al-Ghassûl , is the site of several small hillocks ( tuleilat , 'small tells ') containing

1215-425: The previous phase. These houses were round or oval in shape and had walls made of unburned mud bricks . On top of these walls four depressions were made, one in each corner. These depressions held wooden beams that supported a roof made of branches covered in clay. In the third phase of settlement, which consisted of two construction phases, houses were built above ground, on stone foundations that were laid on top of

1260-539: The raw materials used in their industries - the ivory was brought from Africa and the copper from Wady Feynan and from Timna , in the south-eastern Levant (the south of Israel and Jordan ). Additionally basalt artifacts (sets of large, finely-crafted, basalt bowls) that were probably used in religious rituals were imported from the north, from the Golan or from the Houran . Marine shells that were used for decoration point to

1305-629: The remains of a number of Neolithic and Chalcolithic villages in Jordan . It is the type-site of the Ghassulian culture, which flourished in the Southern Levant during the Middle and Late Chalcolithic period ( c. 4400 – c. 3500 BC). It is located in the lower eastern Jordan Valley , opposite and a little to the south of Jericho and 5-6 kilometers northeast of the Dead Sea . Teleilat el-Ghassul

1350-409: The same culture. It was excavated again, between 1959 and 1960, by a PBI expedition led by Robert North, S.J. In 1967, in an expedition of The University of Sydney directed by Basil Hennessy , 9 phases of occupation were identified on the site (phases A-I), with an additional phase, A*, that had been lost to erosion. Of these, phases A*-G were dated to the Chalcolithic era and phases H and I -

1395-465: The shapes of bearded men, naked women, birds, miniature sickles and other objects, and were probably used for ritualistic purposes. They have holes at the top, indicating they were intended to be hanged by a cord. There are several phases of settlement followed by abandonment in Bir Abu Matar. The residents tended to neatly arrange their belongings in one of the storage spaces dug in the floor of their house, then seal that storage space and all rooms of

Bir Abu Matar - Misplaced Pages Continue

1440-520: The site between 1994 and 1999. Bourke divided all phases of occupation discovered on the site into 6 archaeological horizons , with horizons 1-5 comprising the Chalcolithic phases and horizon 6 - the Late Neolithic ones. The earlier, Late Neolithic settlers, built semi-subterranean, ovoid houses, that contained a single room. Most of one such housing unit was excavated by Hennessy, suggesting its dimensions were around 4 x 2.5 meters. The lower parts of

1485-562: The site. The finest basalt artifacts of the Chalcolithic era were found on the sites of the Beersheba Culture , one of which is Bir Abu Matar. As was mentioned before, many of the ancient residents of Bir Abu Matar had abandoned their homes, leaving their house appliances neatly sealed away in one of the house's storage spaces. In some of those homes, sets of three elegant basalt tools of impressive craftsmanship were discovered. Those consist of two large bowls, 30 - 50 cm in diameter, and

1530-409: The site. Their rooms had been sealed with large stone slabs. Many of these houses had never been re-occupied; they were found whole and still "locked up", during excavations. After the residents of the subterranean houses had abandoned them the site was re-settled, most likely by the same people. They built semi-subterranean houses in the pits left over after the collapse of the subterranean houses from

1575-491: The southwest, from, Wadi Feynan or from Timna and malachite from Wadi Feynan. Marine shells that were used for decoration point to the existence of trading relations with the Red Sea coastline and with the Mediterranean coastline. Huge shells were also found that could only have been imported from the Nile Valley ; also ivory statuettes that include motives found in artifacts from pre-dynastic Upper Egypt ( Amratian and Gerzean cultures). The statuettes are in

1620-604: The third and last phase, houses were built completely above ground on stone foundations. The walls of the houses in the later two phases were built from pisé and the roofs consisted of branches covered in clay which lay on top of two large crossed support beams. The different settlements of this culture were part of an economical system - they traded with one another and with other, more distant, populations. In addition to subsistence farming , each settlement tended to specialize in one particular branch of industry: in Bir Tzafad it

1665-446: The wall paintings represent mythological beasts while others, according to some opinions, represent priests wearing ritualistic masks. It is very difficult to infer the meaning of these drawings, though it mostly likely was related to Ghassulian mythology and religion. In one of the houses, over 20 layers of plaster, one on top of the other and each covered in paintings, were found by Hennessey . No building that could be identified as

1710-744: The walls were made of pisé , with upperworks of less permanent materials. Also, exterior storage pits, patches of pebble paving and semi permanent built features were discovered, suggesting a modest sophistication of the external built environment. It was concluded that Teleilat el-Ghassul had been the site of several small Chalcolithic villages that subsisted on agriculture and on animal husbandry . Their houses were rectilinear, built of manually shaped dried mud bricks laid on stone foundations. The houses had yards and rooms of various sized which contained different appliances. They display an increased sophistication over time, in construction techniques, in building size and built fittings - internal and external - and

1755-553: Was ivory carving and in Bir Abu Matar - copper smelting and the production of copper instruments, artifacts and jewelry . The main source of subsistence for the people of the Beersheba culture was animal husbandry. They raised sheep , goats , cattle and pigs . The relatively old age of the animal bones found on Beersheba sites, indicates that the secondary use of these animals - for instance, for dairy production - had been considerable. The pottery assemblages also point to

1800-423: Was dry and well protected against rodents and other pests. The different settlements of the Beersheba culture tended to specialize in particular types of craft. Bir Abu Matar, for instance, specialized in smelting and casting copper . Copper ore , imported from Wadi Feynan or, possibly, from Timna , was ground, 'cooked' in regular ovens and then smelted in small furnaces and distilled in special clay bowls. It

1845-437: Was later smelted in special furnaces . These furnaces were round, less than one meter in diameter, with evident signs of smelting still seen on their inside when they were discovered. They were made of earth reinforced with straw. At the end of the smelting process the copper was distilled in small bowls, prepared especially for this purpose. It seems the molten copper was then poured into earthen molds which were shattered after

Bir Abu Matar - Misplaced Pages Continue

1890-585: Was occupied for a relatively long period of time during the Chalcolithic era - 8 successive Chalcolithic phases of occupation were identified there, most of them belonging to the Ghassulian culture. The site was excavated between 1929 and 1938 by Alexis Mallon and Robert Koeppel of the Jesuit Pontifical Biblical Institute in Jerusalem , assisted by prehistorian René Neuville . They identified 5 layers of settlement that belonged to

1935-420: Was part of a system of settlements that had economical connections with each other. In addition to subsistence farming , each settlement tended to specialize in one particular branch of industry: in Bir Tzafad it was ivory carving and in Bir Abu Matar - copper smelting and the production of copper instruments, artifacts and jewelry . Initially, the houses were made of one large rectangular room accessible by

1980-541: Was then cast into molds made of compressed earth, which were shattered after the metal had cooled off. Thus copper instruments - club heads, axes, plows, tools for ivory carving etc. - ritual artifacts and jewelry had been produced. Other settlements, such as Bir Tzafad, specialized in ivory carving. The ivory was probably brought here from Africa. People of this culture also produced a multitude of stone (flint) tools, chief among which were fan scrapers, used mainly for working leather. The source material for these tools

2025-540: Was usually local, but sometimes imported. Bone tools - such as picks, needles, combs and sickles - were also in use. Many trading routes go through the Negev - those connecting Northern Arabia with the Mediterranean coastline and the ones connecting Egypt with the Levant . Many of these routes pass near Beersheba, and it seems that people of the Beersheba culture had taken an active part in it. The locals had to import many of

#869130