Life at the Dead Sea
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The Chalcolithic Period in the Dead Sea Area Kerner, Susanne Published in: Life at the Dead Sea Publication date: 2019 Document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Citation for published version (APA): Kerner, S. (2019). The Chalcolithic Period in the Dead Sea Area. In M. Peilstöcker, & S. Wolfram (Eds.), Life at the Dead Sea: Proceedings of the International Conference held at the State Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz (smac), February 21–24, 2018, Chemnitz (pp. 157-173). Zaphon. ÄGYPTEN UND ALTES TESTAMENT Vol. 96 Download date: 26. sep.. 2021 ÄGYPTEN UND ALTES TESTAMENT 96 ÄAT 96 Life at the Dead Sea Life at the Dead Sea Proceedings of the International Conference held at the State Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz (smac), February 21–24, 2018, Chemnitz Edited by Martin Peilstöcker and Sabine Wolfram for the smac www.zaphon.de Zaphon ÄAT-96-Life-at-the-Dead-Sea---Cover.indd 1 05.05.2020 17:45:54 Life at the Dead Sea Proceedings of the International Conference held at the State Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz (smac), February 21–24, 2018, Chemnitz Edited by Martin Peilstöcker and Sabine Wolfram for the smac © 2019, Zaphon, Münster ISBN 978-3-96327-082-6 (Buch) / ISBN 978-3-96327-083-3 (E-Book) ÄGYPTEN UND ALTES TESTAMENT Studien zu Geschichte, Kultur und Religion Ägyptens und des Alten Testaments Band 96 Gegründet von Manfred Görg Herausgegeben von Stefan Jakob Wimmer und Wolfgang Zwickel © 2019, Zaphon, Münster ISBN 978-3-96327-082-6 (Buch) / ISBN 978-3-96327-083-3 (E-Book) Life at the Dead Sea Proceedings of the International Conference held at the State Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz (smac), February 21–24, 2018, Chemnitz Edited by Martin Peilstöcker and Sabine Wolfram for the smac Zaphon Münster 2019 © 2019, Zaphon, Münster ISBN 978-3-96327-082-6 (Buch) / ISBN 978-3-96327-083-3 (E-Book) Illustration auf dem Einband: En-Gedi, Photo Martin Peilstöcker Begleitband zur Ausstellung Leben am Toten Meer. Archäologie aus dem Heiligen Land 27.09.2019 – 29.03.2020 Staatliches Museum für Archäologie Chemnitz Das smac ist eine Einrichtung des Kooperationspartner der Tagung Ägypten und Altes Testament, Band 96 Life at the Dead Sea. Proceedings of the International Conference held at the State Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz (smac), February 21–24, 2018, Chemnitz Edited by Martin Peilstöcker and Sabine Wolfram for the smac © 2019 Zaphon, Münster (www.zaphon.de) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Prepress: wisa-print, Frankfurt am Main Printed in Germany Printed on acid-free paper ISBN 978-3-96327-082-6 ISSN 0720-9061 © 2019, Zaphon, Münster ISBN 978-3-96327-082-6 (Buch) / ISBN 978-3-96327-083-3 (E-Book) 5 Table of Contents 7 Martin Peilstöcker – Sabine Wolfram Foreword 9 Abbreviations 11 Martin Peilstöcker – Sabine Wolfram Life at the Dead Sea. The Exhibition Draft 19 Wolfgang Zwickel The Dead Sea in the Bible 35 Felicity Cobbing The Work of the Palestine Exploration Fund in the Dead Sea Region 45 Lutz Martin Jericho in Berlin 53 Hermann Michael Niemann Ernst Sellin, Carl Watzinger and the German Excavation of Jeri- cho, 1907–1909 67 Katharina Galor Gender at Qumran. Between Text and Material Culture 75 Frank H. Neumann – Wolfgang Zwickel Settlements, Climate and Vegetation at the Dead Sea from the Neolithic until the Crusader Period 95 Jutta Häser Water-Management in the Dead Sea Region 105 Eva Kaptijn Surviving the Summer. Ancient Water Management in the South- ern Jordan Valley as Compared to the Central Jordan Valley 121 Verena J. Schuenemann Genome Sequences of 6,000-Year-Old Barley Provide New In- sights into the History of Crop Domestication 125 Andrea Orendi Development and Importance of Agrarian Resources in the Dead Sea Region in the Bronze and Iron Age 139 Lorenzo Nigro Jericho and the Dead Sea. Life and Resilience © 2019, Zaphon, Münster ISBN 978-3-96327-082-6 (Buch) / ISBN 978-3-96327-083-3 (E-Book) 6 Table of Contents 157 Susanne Kerner The Chalcolithic Period in the Dead Sea Area 173 Florian Klimscha ‒ Danny Rosenberg The Pace of Progress. Technical Innovations in the Prehistory of the Dead Sea Region and the Jordan Valley 189 Eliot Braun A Brief Survey of Human Activity in the Dead Sea Region in Late Prehistory 195 Gunnar Lehmann Ancient Society and Economy at the Dead Sea from the Neolith ic Through the Persian Period 207 Gideon Hadas Excavations in the Oasis of EnGedi 211 Jürgen K. Zangenberg Farms and Fortresses. Exploring the Diversity of Life Around the Dead Sea in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods 225 HansPeter Kuhnen Guarding the Dead Sea. Military Concepts and Sites Between Herod and Justinian 235 Győző Vörös Machaerus. 50 Years of Excavations at the Herodian Fortified Royal Palace and City Overlooking the Dead Sea in Transjordan (1968 – 2018) 251 Stefan Jakob Wimmer Kallirrhoe – Herod’s Hot Springs Resort. The German Excava tions by August Strobel 1986–1989 263 Konstantinos D. Politis, Archaeology at the Lowest Place on Earth. Ghor esSafi, Jordan 285 Marcello Fidanzio Qumran Cave 11Q Through the Ages 293 Itamar Taxel The ByzantineEarly Islamic Transition in the Dead Sea Region 317 JeanBaptiste Humbert Qumran and Machaerus on a Hasmonean Axis 339 Orit Shamir – Naama Sukenik Textiles from the Neolithic until the Medieval Period in the Dead Sea Region 359 List of Authors Plates 1 – 16 © 2019, Zaphon, Münster ISBN 978-3-96327-082-6 (Buch) / ISBN 978-3-96327-083-3 (E-Book) The Chalcolithic Period in the Dead Sea Area 157 The Chalcolithic Period in the Dead Sea Area Susanne Kerner The Chalcolithic period in the Southern Levant is still a period under discussion, which refers both to the exact chronological position and the socio-political development during the period. The following article will summarise the chronological debate and then concentrate on the Late Chalcolithic period. The discussion will deal specifically with the archaeological evidence from the area around the Dead Sea, but also touch upon larger questions of craft specialisation, labour organisation, prestige objects and the importance of rituals or cultic matters. 1 Research history and chronology The research history of this region and period has recently been extensively reviewed by Stephen Bourke (2008), Yorke Rowan and Jonathan Golden (2009), Zeidan Kafafi (2014) and Rowan (2014), so that a short overview will suffice here. The Early Chalcolithic includes the Wadi Rabah culture, assigned by some still to the Neolithic period; it is insufficiently dated (Rowan – Golden 2009) and difficult to pinpoint, as the original excavation of Wadi Rabah is very small with little evidence of architecture and material other than pottery (Kaplan 1969). Nevertheless, other sites such as Abu Hamid (Bourke 2008), Tuleilat Ghassul (Bourke 2008; Lovell 2001) and Tabaqat Buma (Banning et al. 2011), possibly also the Besorian (Gilead 1994), fall into the same time span of the mid to late 6th millennium BCE, even though these levels and sites have been considered both Early Chalcolithic or Late Neolithic by their excavators. The beginning of the 5th millennium BCE sees an Early / Middle Chalcolithic development that is witnessed in sites like Tuleilat Ghassul, Gilat, Shiqmim and, as a particularly interesting place, Tell Tsaf in the Jordan Valley (Garfinkel et al. 2007; Rosenberg et al. 2014). Most authors agree that the Late Chalcolithic starts around the middle of the 5th millennium, ending ca. 3,800/3,700 BCE (Kerner 2009; Rowan 2014). The precise end of the Late Chalcolithic period has recently been much discussed, as an increasing amount of 14C-data has shown the Early Bronze Age to begin as early as 3,700 BCE (Bourke et al. 2009) and the excavation of sites such as Hujayghat al-Ghuzlan and Fidan 4 indicates a period of transition between the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age (Kerner 2009; Klimscha 2009). Any further chronological sub-divisions of the Late Chalcolithic remain unconvincing, as new or corrected 14C-data keep changing the picture, as for, e. g., Naḥal Mishmar in the Judean Desert, which had been considered to be at the very end of the period, until re-analysing the same material led to much earlier dates (Davidovich 2013). There have been attempts to use some material evidence as chronolog- ical indicators, such as the specific pottery form of the cornet. Cornets, however, are not just present in the latest “Terminal Chalcolithic” layers or sites (Joffe – Dessel 1995), but already in the earlier ones such as Ghassul G and H (Lovell 2001). The existence of copper has also been used as a chronological indicator (Golden 2009), as it does not exist in sites such as Grar and Gilat, which might both be in the earlier part of the Late Chalcolithic (Shugar – Gohm 2011). However, the occurrence of copper might also depend on the actual character of a site, because it is clear that copper does not exist in all Late Chal- colithic sites independent of their exact chronological position (see below). A fine chronological division of the years between approximately 4,500 and 3,800 BCE thus still waits for a more complete picture. © 2019, Zaphon, Münster ISBN 978-3-96327-082-6 (Buch) / ISBN 978-3-96327-083-3 (E-Book) 158 Susanne Kerner Late Chalcolithic Sites AF Affula EG Ein Gedi NU Neve Ur TB Tuleilat Batashi AL Abu Habil F Farah Nord P Pella Tu Tel Turmus AS Abu Snesleh Ge Gezer Q Qatif WY Wadi Yabris BS Beth Shan Ma Maqass S Shuna DI Delhamiya Me Megiddo Sa Sahab De Dere’a Ms Meser SA Scheich Ali Fig.