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Selected Ghassulian copper artifacts: 1. skeuomorphic axe; 2. standard featuring ibexes and motifs of tools; 3. anthropomorphic standard; 4. " crown " featuring architectural, zoomorphic, abstract and possible floral (all drawings adapted from Bar-Adon 1980: 112, 100, 49, 28)
Source publication
The paper aims to establish in which way writing fiction can be useful for archaeological interpretation, not only as a way of presenting our work to the public, but as a method of acquiring new insights about the past. Chalcolithic metallurgy of the Southern Levant is taken here as an archaeological case study and the semi-fictional story is a rec...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... for almost a century, due to the various fea- tures which distinguished it from both earlier and later periods, with met- alworking being doubtlessly its most prominent innovation of all. Metal- working appears in the later phase of the culture, seemingly out of nowhere, but the elaborately decorated objects cast in the lost wax technique ( Fig. 1) testify of a great skill of the Ghassulian metalworkers. The truly exceptional character of the Ghassulian metallurgy is fully understood only once we ac- knowledge that the lost wax technique is not utilized by any of the earlier or contemporary metallurgies around the world such as those in the Balkans (Radivojević, Rehren et al. ...
Context 2
... and one object from the Nahal Mishmar hoard indicate that they were not used for daily tasks (Namdar, Segal et al. 2004: 81-83). In addition, copper artifacts of both groups are found in the same archaeological contexts: already listed pro- duction sites, burial caves ( Gopher and Tsuk 1996;Gophna and Lifshitz 1980: 8;Perrot and Ladiray 1980: 41, Fig. 142.1; Segal 2002;Segal and Goren 2013) and in Nahal Mishmar ( Bar-Adon 1980: 24-133). In fact, the Nahal Mishmar hoard, with its 423 copper objects, constitutes most of the Ghassulian copper assemblage, which is why most studies, both of technology and style, have been conducted on these objects (e.g. Bar-Adon 1980;Beck 1989;Elliott ...
Context 3
... Ghassulian copper artifacts are elaborately decorated with various motifs, including anthropomorphic (e.g. Fig. 1.3.), zoomorphic (e.g. Fig. 1.2, 4.), ar- chitectural (e.g. Fig. 1.4.), motifs of tools and weapons (e.g. Fig. 1.1-2.), as well as motifs that are considered to be either ab- stract or floral, such as knobs on some of the crowns and standards (e.g. Fig. 1.4.) (Gošić and Gilead "Casting the Sacred -Chalcolithic Metallurgy and Ritual in the ...
Context 4
... Ghassulian copper artifacts are elaborately decorated with various motifs, including anthropomorphic (e.g. Fig. 1.3.), zoomorphic (e.g. Fig. 1.2, 4.), ar- chitectural (e.g. Fig. 1.4.), motifs of tools and weapons (e.g. Fig. 1.1-2.), as well as motifs that are considered to be either ab- stract or floral, such as knobs on some of the crowns and standards (e.g. Fig. 1.4.) (Gošić and Gilead "Casting the Sacred -Chalcolithic Metallurgy and Ritual in the Southern Levant" 2015: ...
Context 5
... Ghassulian copper artifacts are elaborately decorated with various motifs, including anthropomorphic (e.g. Fig. 1.3.), zoomorphic (e.g. Fig. 1.2, 4.), ar- chitectural (e.g. Fig. 1.4.), motifs of tools and weapons (e.g. Fig. 1.1-2.), as well as motifs that are considered to be either ab- stract or floral, such as knobs on some of the crowns and standards (e.g. Fig. 1.4.) (Gošić and Gilead "Casting the Sacred -Chalcolithic Metallurgy and Ritual in the Southern Levant" 2015: 166-168). Gilead and I (Gošić and Gilead ...
Context 6
... Ghassulian copper artifacts are elaborately decorated with various motifs, including anthropomorphic (e.g. Fig. 1.3.), zoomorphic (e.g. Fig. 1.2, 4.), ar- chitectural (e.g. Fig. 1.4.), motifs of tools and weapons (e.g. Fig. 1.1-2.), as well as motifs that are considered to be either ab- stract or floral, such as knobs on some of the crowns and standards (e.g. Fig. 1.4.) (Gošić and Gilead "Casting the Sacred -Chalcolithic Metallurgy and Ritual in the Southern Levant" 2015: 166-168). Gilead and I (Gošić and Gilead "Casting the Sacred -Chalcolithic Metallurgy and ...
Context 7
... artifacts are elaborately decorated with various motifs, including anthropomorphic (e.g. Fig. 1.3.), zoomorphic (e.g. Fig. 1.2, 4.), ar- chitectural (e.g. Fig. 1.4.), motifs of tools and weapons (e.g. Fig. 1.1-2.), as well as motifs that are considered to be either ab- stract or floral, such as knobs on some of the crowns and standards (e.g. Fig. 1.4.) (Gošić and Gilead "Casting the Sacred -Chalcolithic Metallurgy and Ritual in the Southern Levant" 2015: 166-168). Gilead and I (Gošić and Gilead "Casting the Sacred -Chalcolithic Metallurgy and Ritual in the Southern Levant" 2015: 169) suggest that tools and weapons, as parts of the design of standards, constitute the last type of ...
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... Metallurgy and Ritual in the Southern Levant" 2015: 166-168). Gilead and I (Gošić and Gilead "Casting the Sacred -Chalcolithic Metallurgy and Ritual in the Southern Levant" 2015: 169) suggest that tools and weapons, as parts of the design of standards, constitute the last type of symbols, and that these in- clude mostly chisels and maceheads ( Fig. 1.2.), with maceheads being probably the most frequently repeated symbol on standards and scepters. It is also the most common object of the hoard, and thus, the most common Ghassulian cop- per artifact. A particularly interesting for further discussion is an axe from the Nahal Mishmar hoard (Fig. 1.1.) (Bar-Adon 1980: 112), which stands ...
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... these in- clude mostly chisels and maceheads ( Fig. 1.2.), with maceheads being probably the most frequently repeated symbol on standards and scepters. It is also the most common object of the hoard, and thus, the most common Ghassulian cop- per artifact. A particularly interesting for further discussion is an axe from the Nahal Mishmar hoard (Fig. 1.1.) (Bar-Adon 1980: 112), which stands out in terms of design. The axe features one sharp and one dull edge and a hole for a shaft in its thickest part. Around the hole there is an image of the rope that ties the shaft to the axe, mimicking the way a stone axe was fastened to a handle. It was cast in the lost wax technique, out of complex ...
Context 10
... already mentioned indication that those objects were not intended for use comes from their shape, as some of the chisels are far too thin and elongated to be used. The decoration on the axe from Nahal Mishmar, which clearly signify ropes that fasten stone axes to their handles (Figure 1.1), suggests it was placed on a pole as a symbolic object. Finally, the numerous flint tools recovered from all the Ghassulian settlement sites (e.g. ...
