Early Iron Age Beads at Tel Dor: a Comparative Study
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EARLY IRON AGE BEADS AT TEL DOR: A COMPARATIVE STUDY HAGAR BEN BASAT THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MASTER DEGREE University of Haifa Faculty of Humanities Department of Archaeology November 2011 EARLY IRON AGE BEADS AT TEL DOR: A COMPARATIVE STUDY HAGAR BEN BASAT Supervised by: Dr. AYELET GILBOA and Dr. DANIELLA BAR-YOSEF MAYER THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MASTER DEGREE Department of Archaeology Faculty of Humanities University of Haifa 0211 Approved by: ____________________ Date: ___________________ (Supervisor) Approved by: ___________________ Date: ___________________ (Supervisor) Approved by: ____________________ Date: ___________________ (Chairperson of M.A Committee) I ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like above all to express my gratitude to my supervisors, Dr. Ayelet Gilboa and Dr. Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer for their encouragement, support and uncompromising guidance along the way. I would like to thank the external reader of my thesis for his/her time and effort and useful comments. Several scholars assisted me in the identification of the different materials and I thank them for sharing their knowledge and experience: Prof. Sariel Shalev of the Department of Maritime Civilizations, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa, for giving me the opportunity to use the XRF and study its archaeological implementations; Naomi Porat, of the Geological Survey of Israel, for the identification of the various minerals in the collection; Noa Raban-Gerstel, for the identification of the bone beads; David Hadash, for the identification of the egg-shell beads. Writing this thesis would not have been possible without the willingness of so many curators and scholars to share their knowledge and data (published as well as unpublished) from numerous excavated sites with me: The Tel Dor Excavation Project: Prof. Ephraim Stern, of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who directed the Tel Dor excavations from 1980 to 2000; Prof. Ilan Sharon, of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Dr. Ayelet Gilboa, of the Archaeology Department, Faculty of Humanities, of the University of Haifa, the Directors of the Tel Dor expedition from 2001 and all the Tel Dor team. The Beth-Shean Valley Archaeological Project: Prof. Emeritus Amihai Mazar, of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Director of the excavation, Yael Rotem and all the Tel Rehov team. The Tel Hazor Excavation Project: Prof. Emeritus Amnon Ben-Tor and Dr. Sharon Zuckerman, of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Directors of the excavation, and all the Tel Hazor team. II The Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project: Prof. Aren M. Maeir, the director of the project, Itzhaq Shai and Joe Uziel of the Institute of Archaeology, University of Bar Ilan, and all the Tell es-Safi/Gath team. The Tell Rekhesh Project: A. Tsukimoto, of Rikkyo University, Tokyo, H. Kuwabara, of Tenri University, Tenri, Japan, and Y. Paz, of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, the Directors of the project, and all the Tell Rekhesh team. The Iron Age Collection Curator of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Debora Ben Ami; the Prehistoric Periods Collection Curator of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Galit Litany; and to the Curator of the Rockefeller depots, Alegre Savariego. Dr. Irit Ziffer and Nitza Bashkin Yosef of the Eretz Israel Museum. I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Amir Golani and Yael Gorin-Rosen of the Israel Antiquities Authority, for their helpful comments and advice. I am grateful to the Hecht Museum and to the Wendy J. Goldhirsh Tel Dor Archaeological Fellowships for their generous contribution that assisted me in carrying out this project. Lastly, my deepest gratitude goes to my family and friends who supported me all through the project: my parents, Riki and Shimon, my brothers Erez and Aner, Nitzan Shemla, Morag Wilhelm, and many others, who read, commented, photographed, measured, documented, accompanied, carried, babysat, and gave me all the support I needed – and to my beloved family, Roey and Alon, thank you! III TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1. Study goals .............................................................................................................. 4 2. Outline of thesis ...................................................................................................... 6 3. The study of beads .................................................................................................. 8 3.1. Studies of beads worldwide .......................................................................... 8 3.1.1. Classifications and typologies .......................................................... 9 3.1.2. Technology and production of beads.............................................. 10 3.1.3. Personal and collective identity ...................................................... 15 3.1.4. Daily uses of beads ......................................................................... 16 3.1.5. Symbolic properties of beads ......................................................... 17 3.1.6. Ritual uses of beads ........................................................................ 17 3.1.7. Beads as currency ........................................................................... 18 3.1.8. Beads as trade indicators ................................................................ 18 3.2. The study of Bronze and Iron Age beads from the southern Levant ………………………………………………………………………………20 4. The Tel Dor early Iron Age bead corpus and its significance .............................. 25 5. Chronological and geographical background ....................................................... 27 5.1. The Bronze/Iron Age transition in the southern Levant ................................ 27 5.2. Tel Dor in the early Iron Age ........................................................................ 33 6. Research methods ................................................................................................. 36 6.1. Recovery methods ......................................................................................... 36 6.2. Database ......................................................................................................... 37 6.3. Typology ........................................................................................................ 41 6.4. Raw material analysis .................................................................................... 43 6.5. Comparative study ......................................................................................... 44 6.6. Methodological and other problems .............................................................. 45 7. Results ................................................................................................................... 47 7.1. The Tel Dor corpus ........................................................................................ 47 7.1.1. Materials, decorations and preservation .............................................. 47 7.1.1.1. Stone beads .................................................................................. 48 7.1.1.2. Bone and ivory beads and pendants ............................................. 51 7.1.1.3. Shell beads ................................................................................... 51 IV 7.1.1.4. Egg-shell bead .............................................................................. 53 7.1.1.5. Clay bead ..................................................................................... 53 7.1.1.6. Metal beads .................................................................................. 53 7.1.1.7. Egyptian Blue beads .................................................................... 54 7.1.1.8. Faience beads ............................................................................... 55 7.1.1.9. Glass beads................................................................................... 56 7.1.1.10. Discussion .................................................................................. 59 Faience beads ...................................................................... 60 Glass beads ......................................................................... 60 Stone beads ......................................................................... 61 Bone and ivory beads .......................................................... 62 Shell beads .......................................................................... 63 Metal beads ......................................................................... 63 Clay beads ........................................................................... 64 Perforation types ................................................................. 64 7.1.2. Colors .................................................................................................. 65 7.1.3. Morphology ......................................................................................... 66 7.1.3.1. Stone beads and pendants ............................................................ 66 7.1.3.2. Bone and ivory beads and pendants ............................................. 69 7.1.3.3. Shell beads ..................................................................................