Raw material variability as archaeological tools: Preliminary results from a geochemical study of the basalt vessel workshop at Iron Age Tel Hazor, Israel
Keywords:
ground stone tools, basalt vessels, workshop, geochemistry, Iron Age, Tel Hazor, Israel
Abstract
The discovery of a basalt vessel workshop at Tel Hazor, one of the most important Iron Age sites in the Near East, marks a turning point in our understanding of stone artifact production and distribution during the1st millennium BCE. It offers a rare opportunity to characterize ancient raw material sources, production sites, and study production, trade and distribution systems. The basalt vessel workshop, the only one of its kind in the Levant, produced large quantities of bowl preforms and production waste. To better understand the production and distribution systems behind this specialized production center, in 2011 we initiated a focused geochemical project that concentrated on the products of this unique workshop. We measured the major and trace element composition of 44 unfinished basalt vessels from the workshop and other contexts at Hazor, and can demonstrate that the majority of these objects were derived from one specific, geochemically well-constrained, basaltic rock source. Only a few bowls clearly deviate from this geochemical composition and were produced using raw material from other sources. Thus, we believe that one major quarry existed that supplied the Hazor workshop with the majority of the basaltic raw material. The products from this specific extraction site provide us with a “Hazor reference group” that can be used to test whether or not finished vessels from Hazor and contemporary sites were produced in the Hazor workshop.
References
Amiran, R., & Porat, N. 1984, The basalt vessels of the Chalcolithic period and Early Bronze Age I. Tel Aviv, 11(1): 11-19. doi:10.1179/tav.1984.1984.1.11
Ben-Tor, A., (Ed.), 1989, Hazor III-IV, Text. Israel Exploration Society, Jerusalem, 362 p.
Ben-Tor, A., & Bonfil, R., (Eds.), 1997, Hazor V: An Account of the Fifth Season of Excavation, 1968. Israel Exploration Society, Jerusalem, 408 p.
Ben-Tor, A., & Zuckerman, S. 2010, Tel Hazor-2010 preliminary report. Hadashot Arkheologiyot-Excavations and Surveys in Israel, 122. URL: http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1592
Bevan, A. 2007. Stone Vessels and Values in the Bronze Age Mediterranean. University College London, Institute of Archaeology. Cambridge, 316 p. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511499678
Ebeling, J. 2012, Ground stone artifacts. In: Hazor VI: The 1990-2009 Excavations, the Iron Age (Ben-Tor, A., Ben-Ami, D., & Sandhaus, D., Eds.), Israel Exploration Society, Jerusalem: p. 542-558.
Ebeling, J., & Rosenberg, D. 2015. A basalt vessel workshop and its products at Iron Age Hazor. Journal of Field Archaeology, 40(6): 665-674. doi:10.1080/00934690.2015.1101941
Gluhak, T.M., & Hofmeister, W. 2009, Roman lava quarries in the Eifel region (Germany): geochemical data for millstone provenance studies. Journal of Archaeological Science, 36(8): 1174-1182. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2009.04.007
Gluhak, T.M., & Hofmeister, W. 2011, Geochemical provenance analyses of Roman lava millstones north of the Alps: a study of their distribution and implications for the beginning of Roman lava quarrying in the Eifel region (Germany). Journal of Archaeological Science, 38(7): 1603-1620. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.025
Gluhak, T.M., & Rosenberg, D. 2013, Geochemical discrimination of basaltic sources as a tool for provenance analyses of bifacial tools in the southern Levant: first results from the Jezreel Valley, Israel. Journal of Archaeological Science, 40: 1611-1622. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2012.11.003
Harvey, J., Gannoun, A., Burtin, K.W., Rogers, N.W., Alard, O., & Parkinson, I.J. 2006, Ancient melt extraction from the oceanic upper mantle revealed by Re-Os isotopes in abyssal peridotites from the Mid-Atlantic ridge. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 244(3-4): 606-621. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2006.02.031
Jochum, K.P., Nohl, U., Herwig, K., Lammel, E., Stoll, B., & Hofmann, A.W. 2005, GeoReM: a new geochemical database for reference materials and isotopic standards. Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research, 29(3): 333-338. doi:10.1111/j.1751-908x.2005.tb00904.x
Le Bas, M.J., Le Maitre, R.W., Streckeisen, A., & Zanettin, B. 1986, A chemical classification of volcanic rocks based on the total Alkali-Silica diagram. Journal of Petrology, 27(3): 745-750. doi:10.1093/petrology/27.3.745
Le Maitre, R.W.E., Bateman, P., Dudek, A., Keller, J., Lameyre, J., La Bas, M.J., Sabine, P.A., Schmid, R., Sorensen, H., Streckeisen, A.L., Woolley, A.R., & Zanettin, B. 1989, A Classification of Igneous Rocks and Glossary of Terms; Recommendations of the International Union of Geological Science, Subcommission on the Systematics of Igneous Rocks. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 193 p.
McDonough, W.F., & Sun, S.-S. 1995, The composition of the Earth. Chemical Geology, 120: 223-253. doi:10.1016/0009-2541(94)00140-4
Philip, G., & Williams-Thorpe, O. 1993, A provenance study of Jordanian basalt vessels of the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age I periods. Paléorient, 19(2): 51-63. doi:10.3406/paleo.1993.4596
Philip, G., & Williams-Thorpe, O. 2000, The production and distribution of ground stone artefacts in the Southern Levant during the 5th-4th millennia BC: some implications of geochemical and petrographic analysis. Presented at Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Rome, 18-23 May 1998.
Philip, G., & Williams-Thorpe, O. 2001, The production and consumption of basalt artefacts in the southern Levant during the 5th-4th millennia BC: a geochemical and petrographic investigation. In: Archaeological Sciences ’97 - Proceedings of the Conference Held at the University of Durham, 2nd - 4th September 1997 (Millard. A, Ed.), BAR International Series Vol. 939, Oxford, Archaeopress: p. 11-30.
Rosenberg, D., Shimelmitz, R., & Nativ, A. 2008, Basalt bifacials production in the southern Levant: a glance at the quarry and workshop site of Giv‛at Kipod, Israel. Antiquity, 82(316): 367-376. doi:10.1017/s0003598x00096861
Rosenberg, D., & Gluhak, T. 2016. Trade me an axe? Interpretive challenges of the distribution and provenance of Neolithic basaltic bifacial tools in Israel. Antiquity, 90(349): 48-63. doi: 10.15184/aqy.2015.191
Rowan, Y.M. 1998, Ancient Distribution and Deposition of Prestige Objects: Basalt Vessels during Late Prehistory in the Southern Levant. Unpublished Ph.D dissertation, University of Texas, Austin, Texas. Pp. 518.
Rutter, G.P. 2003, Basaltic-Rock Procurement Systems in the Southern Levant: Case Studies from the Chalcolithic-Early Bronze I and the Late Bronze-Iron Ages. Unpublished Ph.D dissertation, University of Durham, Durham, 400 p.
Rutter, G., Pearson, D.G., Philip, G., Day, J.M.D., & Ottley, C.J. 2003, The use of ICP-MS in provenancing igneous stone artefacts: examples from the southern Levant. In: Plasma Source Mass Spectrometry: Applications and Emerging Technologies (Holland, G., and Tanner, S.D., Eds.), The Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge: p. 209-219. doi:10.1039/9781847551689-00209
Rutter, G., & Philip, G. 2008, Beyond provenance analyses: the movement of basaltic artefacts through a social landscape. In: New Approaches to Old Stones: Recent Studies of Ground Stone Artefacts (Rowan, Y.M., & Ebeling, J.R., Eds.), Equinox Publishing, London: p. 343-358.
Schattner, U., & Weinberger, R. 2008, A mid-Pleistocene deformation transition in the Hula basin, northern Israel: Implications for the tectonic evolution of the Dead Sea Fault. G³ - Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 9(7). Accessed at: 10 July 2008. doi: 10.1029/2007gc001937
Shimelmitz, R., & Rosenberg, D. 2016. The organization of basanite bifacial production at Giv’at Kipod Quarry, Israel: Towards an ‘Alyawara Day’ model of extraction. Journal of Lithic Studies, 3(3): 23 p. doi:10.2218/jls.v3i3.1643
Sparks, R. T. 2007. Stone Vessels in the Levant. Palestine Exploration Found Annual VIII. Maney Publishing, Leeds, 488 p.
Stocks, D. A. 1993. Making stone vessels in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. Antiquity, 67(256): 596-603. doi: 10.1017/s0003598x00045804
Stocks, D. A. 1999. Stone sarcophagus in Ancient Egypt. Antiquity, 73(282): 918-922. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00065704
Stocks, D.A. 2003. Experiments in Egyptian Archaeology Stoneworking Technology in Ancient Egypt. Routledge, New York, 296 p.
Sneh, A., & Weinberger, R. 2006, Rosh Pina, Sheet 2-IV, Geological Map of Israel 1:50,000, State of Israel, Ministry of National Infrastructures, Ministry of National Infrastructures, Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem.
Watts, B.G., Bennet III, M.E., Kopp, O.C. & Mattingly, G.L. 2004, Geochemistry and petrography of basalt grindstones from the Karak Plateau, Central Jordan. Geoarchaeology, 19(1): 47-69. doi:10.1002/gea.10103
Williams-Thorpe, O., & Thorpe, R. 1993, Geochemistry and trade of eastern mediterranean millstones from the Neolithic to Roman periods. Journal of Archaeological Science, 20(3): 263-320. doi: 10.1006/jasc.1993.1018
Xenophontos, C.; Elliott, C. & Malpas, J. G. 1988. Major and trace-element geochemistry used in tracing the provenance of Late Bronze Age and Roman basalt artifacts from Cyprus. Levant, 20(1):169-183. doi:10.1179/lev.1988.20.1.169
Ben-Tor, A., (Ed.), 1989, Hazor III-IV, Text. Israel Exploration Society, Jerusalem, 362 p.
Ben-Tor, A., & Bonfil, R., (Eds.), 1997, Hazor V: An Account of the Fifth Season of Excavation, 1968. Israel Exploration Society, Jerusalem, 408 p.
Ben-Tor, A., & Zuckerman, S. 2010, Tel Hazor-2010 preliminary report. Hadashot Arkheologiyot-Excavations and Surveys in Israel, 122. URL: http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1592
Bevan, A. 2007. Stone Vessels and Values in the Bronze Age Mediterranean. University College London, Institute of Archaeology. Cambridge, 316 p. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511499678
Ebeling, J. 2012, Ground stone artifacts. In: Hazor VI: The 1990-2009 Excavations, the Iron Age (Ben-Tor, A., Ben-Ami, D., & Sandhaus, D., Eds.), Israel Exploration Society, Jerusalem: p. 542-558.
Ebeling, J., & Rosenberg, D. 2015. A basalt vessel workshop and its products at Iron Age Hazor. Journal of Field Archaeology, 40(6): 665-674. doi:10.1080/00934690.2015.1101941
Gluhak, T.M., & Hofmeister, W. 2009, Roman lava quarries in the Eifel region (Germany): geochemical data for millstone provenance studies. Journal of Archaeological Science, 36(8): 1174-1182. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2009.04.007
Gluhak, T.M., & Hofmeister, W. 2011, Geochemical provenance analyses of Roman lava millstones north of the Alps: a study of their distribution and implications for the beginning of Roman lava quarrying in the Eifel region (Germany). Journal of Archaeological Science, 38(7): 1603-1620. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.025
Gluhak, T.M., & Rosenberg, D. 2013, Geochemical discrimination of basaltic sources as a tool for provenance analyses of bifacial tools in the southern Levant: first results from the Jezreel Valley, Israel. Journal of Archaeological Science, 40: 1611-1622. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2012.11.003
Harvey, J., Gannoun, A., Burtin, K.W., Rogers, N.W., Alard, O., & Parkinson, I.J. 2006, Ancient melt extraction from the oceanic upper mantle revealed by Re-Os isotopes in abyssal peridotites from the Mid-Atlantic ridge. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 244(3-4): 606-621. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2006.02.031
Jochum, K.P., Nohl, U., Herwig, K., Lammel, E., Stoll, B., & Hofmann, A.W. 2005, GeoReM: a new geochemical database for reference materials and isotopic standards. Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research, 29(3): 333-338. doi:10.1111/j.1751-908x.2005.tb00904.x
Le Bas, M.J., Le Maitre, R.W., Streckeisen, A., & Zanettin, B. 1986, A chemical classification of volcanic rocks based on the total Alkali-Silica diagram. Journal of Petrology, 27(3): 745-750. doi:10.1093/petrology/27.3.745
Le Maitre, R.W.E., Bateman, P., Dudek, A., Keller, J., Lameyre, J., La Bas, M.J., Sabine, P.A., Schmid, R., Sorensen, H., Streckeisen, A.L., Woolley, A.R., & Zanettin, B. 1989, A Classification of Igneous Rocks and Glossary of Terms; Recommendations of the International Union of Geological Science, Subcommission on the Systematics of Igneous Rocks. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 193 p.
McDonough, W.F., & Sun, S.-S. 1995, The composition of the Earth. Chemical Geology, 120: 223-253. doi:10.1016/0009-2541(94)00140-4
Philip, G., & Williams-Thorpe, O. 1993, A provenance study of Jordanian basalt vessels of the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age I periods. Paléorient, 19(2): 51-63. doi:10.3406/paleo.1993.4596
Philip, G., & Williams-Thorpe, O. 2000, The production and distribution of ground stone artefacts in the Southern Levant during the 5th-4th millennia BC: some implications of geochemical and petrographic analysis. Presented at Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Rome, 18-23 May 1998.
Philip, G., & Williams-Thorpe, O. 2001, The production and consumption of basalt artefacts in the southern Levant during the 5th-4th millennia BC: a geochemical and petrographic investigation. In: Archaeological Sciences ’97 - Proceedings of the Conference Held at the University of Durham, 2nd - 4th September 1997 (Millard. A, Ed.), BAR International Series Vol. 939, Oxford, Archaeopress: p. 11-30.
Rosenberg, D., Shimelmitz, R., & Nativ, A. 2008, Basalt bifacials production in the southern Levant: a glance at the quarry and workshop site of Giv‛at Kipod, Israel. Antiquity, 82(316): 367-376. doi:10.1017/s0003598x00096861
Rosenberg, D., & Gluhak, T. 2016. Trade me an axe? Interpretive challenges of the distribution and provenance of Neolithic basaltic bifacial tools in Israel. Antiquity, 90(349): 48-63. doi: 10.15184/aqy.2015.191
Rowan, Y.M. 1998, Ancient Distribution and Deposition of Prestige Objects: Basalt Vessels during Late Prehistory in the Southern Levant. Unpublished Ph.D dissertation, University of Texas, Austin, Texas. Pp. 518.
Rutter, G.P. 2003, Basaltic-Rock Procurement Systems in the Southern Levant: Case Studies from the Chalcolithic-Early Bronze I and the Late Bronze-Iron Ages. Unpublished Ph.D dissertation, University of Durham, Durham, 400 p.
Rutter, G., Pearson, D.G., Philip, G., Day, J.M.D., & Ottley, C.J. 2003, The use of ICP-MS in provenancing igneous stone artefacts: examples from the southern Levant. In: Plasma Source Mass Spectrometry: Applications and Emerging Technologies (Holland, G., and Tanner, S.D., Eds.), The Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge: p. 209-219. doi:10.1039/9781847551689-00209
Rutter, G., & Philip, G. 2008, Beyond provenance analyses: the movement of basaltic artefacts through a social landscape. In: New Approaches to Old Stones: Recent Studies of Ground Stone Artefacts (Rowan, Y.M., & Ebeling, J.R., Eds.), Equinox Publishing, London: p. 343-358.
Schattner, U., & Weinberger, R. 2008, A mid-Pleistocene deformation transition in the Hula basin, northern Israel: Implications for the tectonic evolution of the Dead Sea Fault. G³ - Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 9(7). Accessed at: 10 July 2008. doi: 10.1029/2007gc001937
Shimelmitz, R., & Rosenberg, D. 2016. The organization of basanite bifacial production at Giv’at Kipod Quarry, Israel: Towards an ‘Alyawara Day’ model of extraction. Journal of Lithic Studies, 3(3): 23 p. doi:10.2218/jls.v3i3.1643
Sparks, R. T. 2007. Stone Vessels in the Levant. Palestine Exploration Found Annual VIII. Maney Publishing, Leeds, 488 p.
Stocks, D. A. 1993. Making stone vessels in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. Antiquity, 67(256): 596-603. doi: 10.1017/s0003598x00045804
Stocks, D. A. 1999. Stone sarcophagus in Ancient Egypt. Antiquity, 73(282): 918-922. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00065704
Stocks, D.A. 2003. Experiments in Egyptian Archaeology Stoneworking Technology in Ancient Egypt. Routledge, New York, 296 p.
Sneh, A., & Weinberger, R. 2006, Rosh Pina, Sheet 2-IV, Geological Map of Israel 1:50,000, State of Israel, Ministry of National Infrastructures, Ministry of National Infrastructures, Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem.
Watts, B.G., Bennet III, M.E., Kopp, O.C. & Mattingly, G.L. 2004, Geochemistry and petrography of basalt grindstones from the Karak Plateau, Central Jordan. Geoarchaeology, 19(1): 47-69. doi:10.1002/gea.10103
Williams-Thorpe, O., & Thorpe, R. 1993, Geochemistry and trade of eastern mediterranean millstones from the Neolithic to Roman periods. Journal of Archaeological Science, 20(3): 263-320. doi: 10.1006/jasc.1993.1018
Xenophontos, C.; Elliott, C. & Malpas, J. G. 1988. Major and trace-element geochemistry used in tracing the provenance of Late Bronze Age and Roman basalt artifacts from Cyprus. Levant, 20(1):169-183. doi:10.1179/lev.1988.20.1.169
Published
31-Oct-2016
How to Cite
Gluhak, T., Rosenberg, D., & Ebeling, J. (2016). Raw material variability as archaeological tools: Preliminary results from a geochemical study of the basalt vessel workshop at Iron Age Tel Hazor, Israel. Journal of Lithic Studies, 3(3), 169-189. https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.v3i3.1677
Issue
Section
Presented at the 1st Meeting of the Association for Ground Stone Tools Research
This is an Open Access journal. All material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence, unless otherwise stated.
Please read our Open Access, Copyright and Permissions policies for more information.
