The Early Bronze Age Fortifications At Tell Es-Safi/Gath, Israel

Shai, Itzhaq; Chadwick, Jeffrey R.; Welch, Eric Lee; Katz, Jill; Greenfield, Haskey J.; Maeir, Aren M.

doi:10.1080/00310328.2016.1138216

Cited by 17 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…During the EB III, it was one of the paramount (fortified urban centres) sites in the regional settlement system across the southern Levantine landscape. Excavations have demonstrated that the EB settlement reached its maximum extent of 24 ha across the entire "upper mound" PLOS ONE [38,39] and was surrounded by a massive fortification system [40]. At the eastern end of the site, excavations have uncovered the remains of a substantive EB III domestic neighbourhood.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fingerprint evidence for the division of labour and learning pottery-making at Early Bronze Age Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel

et al. 2020

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The organization of craft production has long been a marker for broader social, economic and political changes that accompanied urbanism. The identity of producers who comprised production groups, communities, or workshops is out of reach using conventional archaeological data. There has been some success using epidermal prints on artefacts to identify the age and sex of producers. However, forensic research indicates that a combination of ridge breadth and ridge density would best identify the age and sex of individuals. To this end, we combine mean ridge breadth (MRB) and mean ridge density (MRD) to distinguish the age and sex of 112 fingerprints on Early Bronze Age (EB) III pottery from the early urban neighbourhood at Tell eṡ-Ṡ â fi/Gath, Israel, dating to a 100 year time span. Our analysis accounts for the shrinkage of calcareous fabrics used to make six type of vessels, applies a modified version of the Kamp et al. regression equation to the MRB for each individual print, and infers sex by correlating MRD data to appropriate modern reference populations. When the results are combined, our analyses indicate that most fingerprints were made by adult and young males and the remainder by adult and young females. Children's prints are in evidence but only occur on handles. Multiple prints of different age and sex on the same vessels suggest they were impressed during the training of young potters. Production appears dominated by adult and young males working alone, together, and in cooperation with adult and/or young females. Vessels with prints exclusively by females of any age are rare. This male dominant cooperative labour pattern contrasts recent studies showing that adult women primarily made Neolithic figurines in Anatolia, and more females than males were making pottery prior to the rise of city-states in northern Mesopotamia.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fingerprint evidence for the division of labour and learning pottery-making at Early Bronze Age Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel

et al. 2020

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“…Reconsideration and modeling of Early Bronze Age 14 C dates from sites across the southern Levant (e.g. Bruins and van der Plicht 2001; Golani and Segal 2002; Braun and Gophna 2004; Philip 2008; Bourke et al 2009; Regev et al 2012a, 2012b, 2014; Shai et al 2014) hinge on stratified evidence excavated from settlements spanning Early Bronze I–III. These investigations support a revised chronological structure that is significantly earlier than traditionally accepted timeframes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Radiocarbon Sequence from Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj, Jordan and its Implications for Early Bronze IV Chronology in the Southern Levant

Falconer

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2016

Radiocarbon

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Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj, an agrarian Early Bronze IV village in the northern Jordan Valley, Jordan, provides a series of 24 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) seed dates spanning seven stratified phases of occupation. Bayesian analysis of these ages reveals that habitation at Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj began between 2600 and 2500 cal BC and ended just before 2000 cal BC. This sequence provides the longest radiocarbon record of occupation for an Early Bronze IV settlement in the southern Levant and pushes the beginning of the Levantine Early Bronze IV earlier than proposed previously. When integrated with14C dates from an array of sites in the southern Levant, Egypt, and Lebanon, this evidence aligns with recent14C-based chronologies calling for earlier ages for Early Bronze I–III, details Early Bronze IV chronology through the course of this period, and corroborates the date of the Early Bronze IV/Middle Bronze Age transition ~2000 cal BC.

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“…The entire site is underlain by a large and extensive EB urban center (c. 24 ha in area) that assuredly dominated the region as an independent city-state. It was densely occupied across its entire extent and surrounded by a large stone wall fortification system ( Fig 2 ) [ 73 ]. At the eastern end of the site (Area E), excavations uncovered the remains of several private houses in what we interpret as a domestic quarter ( Fig 3a and 3b ).…”

Section: The Specimen—description and Archaeological Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earliest evidence for equid bit wear in the ancient Near East: The "ass" from Early Bronze Age Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel

et al. 2018

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Analysis of a sacrificed and interred domestic donkey from an Early Bronze Age (EB) IIIB (c. 2800–2600 BCE) domestic residential neighborhood at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel, indicate the presence of bit wear on the Lower Premolar 2 (LPM2). This is the earliest evidence for the use of a bit among early domestic equids, and in particular donkeys, in the Near East. The mesial enamel surfaces on both the right and left LPM2 of the particular donkey in question are slightly worn in a fashion that suggests that a dental bit (metal, bone, wood, etc.) was used to control the animal. Given the secure chronological context of the burial (beneath the floor of an EB IIIB house), it is suggested that this animal provides the earliest evidence for the use of a bit on an early domestic equid from the Near East.

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The Early Bronze Age Fortifications At Tell Es-Safi/Gath, Israel

Cited by 17 publications

References 10 publications

Fingerprint evidence for the division of labour and learning pottery-making at Early Bronze Age Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel

Fingerprint evidence for the division of labour and learning pottery-making at Early Bronze Age Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel

A Radiocarbon Sequence from Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj, Jordan and its Implications for Early Bronze IV Chronology in the Southern Levant

Earliest evidence for equid bit wear in the ancient Near East: The "ass" from Early Bronze Age Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel

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