Early Bronze Age copper production systems in the northern Arabah Valley: New insights from archaeomagnetic study of slag deposits in Jordan and Israel

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2016.05.010Get rights and content

Highlights

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    The application of archaeomagnetic experiments for constraining age of copper smelting and casting sites is demonstrated.

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    New archaeomagnetic age constraints are provided for key Early Bronze Age copper production sites in the northern Arabah Valley.

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    Probable link between the northern Arabah copper production and the Old Kingdom of Egypt is presented.

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    Key issues in establishing absolute chronology for desert sites are discussed.

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    First mapping and dating of Ashalim – a unique EB cultic/smelting site on the road between Faynan and the urban centers of Canaan – are provided.

Abstract

This paper presents results of an archaeomagnetic study of slag from four Early Bronze (EB) Age copper production sites in the Faynan Copper Ore District and the northern Arabah Valley (modern Israel and Jordan). The results provide age constraints for metallurgical activities at these sites. Together with previously published data, they indicate copper production around ca. 2900 cal. BCE (EB II-III transition) and between ca. 2600-1950 cal. BCE, spanning the later part of the EB III and the entire EB IV period. These data strongly suggest a direct link between Faynan and the Old Kingdom of Egypt, which is reflected in the most significant phase of copper production and trade in the northern Arabah prior to the Iron Age, and in a settlement wave in the Negev Highlands. In addition, the results indicate that during the late EB II copper was smelted up to 40 km away from the mines. This is evident at the unique cultic site of Ashalim, located on the main road between Faynan, southeast of the Dead Sea, and the settled areas in the core of Canaan.

Introduction

Increasing understanding of changes in the Earth’s magnetic field has important implications for dating archaeological sites from the Holocene period. The Earth’s magnetic field is constantly changing. Even on short time scales (“secular variations”, SV) the changes in its intensity (strength) and directions are substantial, demonstrating an unstable and fluctuating behavior (e.g., Korhonen, et al., 2008). For periods earlier than modern instrumental recording, reconstructing the geomagnetic field’s properties depends on geological and archaeological materials that acquired a stable remanent magnetization, usually at the time of their last cooling episode (e.g., Valet, 2003). The record of these fluctuations can, in principle, be used as a dating tool by comparing data from objects of an unknown age to regional reference curves (e.g., Sternberg, 1997).

In recent years, the potential of archaeomagnetic dating has increased dramatically as a result of improvements in resolution and precision of regional reference datasets for the Holocene (e.g., Lanos, 2003, Pavon-Carrasco et al., 2011). This includes the dataset for intensity changes in the Levant (e.g., Ben-Yosef et al., 2008b, Gallet et al., 2014), which can be used as a reference for dating un-oriented heat-impacted samples. Even taken outside of correlating remanent magnetization to the known historical fluctuations in intensity, identifying differences in magnetic intensities implies different periods of deposition.

In the following we present results of an archaeomagnetic study on slag samples from four copper production sites in the northern Arabah Valley (modern Jordan and Israel) (Fig. 1). The main goal of the study was to use archaeomagnetic data to place these sites in their chrono-cultural context, a fundamental step towards reconstructing copper production and trade systems in the northern Arabah when urbanism first emerged in this part of the Middle East. The sites have attributes that broadly place them in the EB Age; however, as the EB cultures cover more than a millennium and a half, ancient geomagnetic intensity values retrieved directly from slag are used to further constrain the absolute age of the sites. This was done based on comparison to the most updated Levantine Archaeointensity Curve (LAC, Fig. 2; after Shaar et al., 2016) and to recent data from EB Age Syria (in particular the well-studied site of Ebla [Tell Mardikh], Gallet et al., 2014). This is a new approach to dating southern Levantine EB Age sites, especially where organic samples suitable for radiocarbon dating are lacking and material culture remains are relatively scant and do not enable clear typo-technological dating. The results are correlated using the newest absolute chronology for the EB Age southern Levant published recently by Regev et al., 2012a, Regev et al., 2012b based on its division into the EB I, II, III and IV by pottery typology.

Section snippets

Geomagnetic archaeointensity research of slag deposits

The most commonly used material in archaeomagnetic studies is baked clay (pottery, kilns, and mud bricks) (Thellier, 1938, Valet, 2003). However, recently Ben-Yosef et al. (2008a) pointed out the advantages of slag material in such studies, and Shaar et al. (2010) demonstrated its high reliability as an archaeointensity recorder. Slag samples can have a relatively high success rate in archaeointensity experiments owing to its glassy texture (abundant single domain grains) and high resistance to

Smelting sites and sample collection

Three smelting sites in the northern Arabah Valley (‘Ein Yahav, Giv’at Hazeva and Ashalim) and one metallurgical manufactory (Khirbat Hamra Ifdan) in the Faynan copper ore district were investigated as part of the current research (Fig. 1). All of these sites should most probably be associated with the ore deposits of Faynan (Hauptmann, 2007), as the next closest major ore source is located more than 100 km to the south (in Timna, southern Israel).

Experimental procedure

The experiments for retrieving geomagnetic intensity values from thermally impacted materials are most commonly based on the Thellier-Thellier method (Koenigsberger, 1936, Thellier and Thellier, 1959), in which the natural remanent magnetization (NRM) is gradually replaced by an artificial thermal remanent magnetization (or TRM) in the laboratory using an oven with a controlled magnetic field. In more recent practice of the method, the gradual replacement is done in successive temperature steps

Archaeointensity results

Out of a total of 332 specimens, 107 met the strict selection criteria listed in Table 1. The experimental data and results of all specimens will be uploaded into the MagIC online database (https://earthref.org/MAGIC/); the data for the successful specimens are provided in Supplementary Material #3. Only sample averages based on at least 2 specimens with standard deviations within 5 μT or 15% are considered here (Table 2). Over half of the results have moderate field intensities of less than

Early Bronze Age copper production in the northern Arabah in light of the new archaeomagnetic data

The Faynan region (Fig. 1) is the largest copper ore district in the southern Levant. Together with the smaller ore districts of Timna and southern Sinai, located 100/300 km to the south (respectively), it played a role in the history of the region as a provider of copper, displaying intermittent exploitation efforts throughout the millennia (e.g., Hauptmann, 2007, Levy et al., 2014). Current data do not allow to directly connect the northern Arabah copper production center (Faynan and related

Conclusions

Archaeointensity estimates are a useful tool for providing age constraints on heat-impacted archaeological materials. In this study, we retrieved archaeointensity data from ancient copper slag samples that were collected in both surveys and excavations at four EB Age copper production sites in Faynan and the northern Arabah Valley. These data, when compared to the LAC and analyzed according to their archaeological setting, provide the following insights regarding EB Age copper production in the

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Departments of Antiquity of Jordan, ACOR, the ELRAP staff and student volunteers, Jason Steindorf for the magnetic laboratory measurements, and Adolfo Muniz for his work in the field. We also thank Uzi Avner for sharing his knowledge about the Ashalim site. We would also like to thank the Israel Mapping Center for providing corrections for our differential GPS. This research was partially supported by NSF grants #: EAR1345003 and

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