Abstract
The first industrial revolution in the southern Levant crystallized during the Iron Age when copper production reached scales never before seen in this part of the Middle East. Ever since copper ore was first smelted during the Chalcolithic period, the Arabah valley, and its widespread distribution of copper mineralization, was the main source for copper ore in the region. The main ore deposits are located in Timna (Israel) in the southern part of the valley, and some 105 km to the north, in the Faynan region (Jordan). Faynan is the largest copper ore resource zone in the southern Levant. Excavations at the Iron Age Faynan site of Khirbat en-Nahas and the recent final publication of that project have revealed peaks in industrial-scale production during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE. However, the role of ground stone tools in the Iron Age copper industry in Faynan has not been systematically presented. This paper presents a preliminary study of the ground stone assemblage from one excavation season at Khirbat en-Nahas, thereby highlighting the great potential for ground stone tools research at the site. Using the chaîne opératoire method of technological study, this paper takes a quantitative approach to the typological, material, and spatial distribution of ground stone artefacts at Khirbat en-Nahas to understand their role in copper production. Ethnoarchaeological study of hereditary bronze casting workshops in southern India provides a compelling model of how ground stone tools played a critical role in one of the most important dimensions of metal production in all periods - recycling - in an Iron Age copper factory.
Highlights
Ground stone tools have been important components of human technologies since earliest prehistory (Goren-Inbar et al 2002; de Beaune 2004)
We provide a quantitative analysis of the typological, material, and spatial distribution of ground stone artefacts from the 2006 excavations at Khirbat en-Nahas, an Iron Age copper industrial complex in Jordan’s Faynan region
Volcanic outcrops are readily visible and accessible from the site, only six artefacts in the ground stone assemblage (1.3%) were made of basalt. This stands in contrast with assemblages from domestic contexts at Trans-Jordan sites such as Tall Jawa (Daviau 2002: 102-108, 122-161) where basalt seems to be a more common material for ground stone tools and others that are dominated by basalt vessels and grinding slabs
Summary
Ground stone tools have been important components of human technologies since earliest prehistory (Goren-Inbar et al 2002; de Beaune 2004). Ground stone tools play a critical role in manufacturing activities, including pottery-making, hide-processing, woodworking, textile production, and many others. How do manufacturing ground stone tool kits change with shifts in the context and scale of craft production? One example is a recent study of ground stone tools at a Middle Bronze Age copper mining and production site in Cyprus that suggests that differences between domestic and industrial tool assemblages are detectable and may be helpful in identifying mining, smelting, and casting activity locales (Webb 2015). Using ethnographic data from hereditary bronze casting workshops in southern India, we suggest a model for how ground stone tools played a critical role in one of the most important dimensions of metal production in all periods - recycling - in an Iron Age copper factory
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