Early Bronze Age IV Settlement Pattern
of the Negev and Sinai Deserts: View
from Small Marginal Temporary Sites
MORDECHAI HAIMAN
Israel Antiquities Authority
P.O. Box 586
Jerusalem 91004, Israel
Approximately 1,000 EB IV sites have been surveyed to date in the Negev and Sinai deserts. A few of these sites are large, permanent settlements located near water sources and consisting of 100 to 200 structures. The vast majority however, are small temporary sites with a few poorly built structures, located far from water sources. Reexamination of the finds that reflected the economy of the sites revealed evidence of pastoralism and agriculture, primarily in the snwll temporary sites. In the large, permanent settlements, however, there was extensive evidence related to industry and trade in copper, and on a much larger scale than previously believed. The author maintains that the emergence of settlement in the desert during EB IV is related to the transport of copper from Feinan to Egypt by Asians. Following the establishment of large, permanent settlements, mainly by copper-specialists whose main economy was not dependent on the desert environment, there was a rise in seminomadic activity throughout this area, as evidenced in the hundreds of small temporary sites.
The Southern Levant in the Early Bronze
Age IV: The Petrographic Perspective
YUVAL GOREN
Institute of Archaeology
Tel Aviv University
Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel
The results of comprehensive petrographic analyses of the pottery assemblages from the Early Bronze Age IV (also termed Middle Bronze Age I or Intermediate Bronze Age) sites in southern Israel are presented in detail. The ceramic assemblages of the central Negev sites, excavated in the framework of the Negev Emergency Survey, indicate that most of the vessels were produced in Transjordan or Judaea and imported. Additional production sources include the northern Negev or the southern Shephela. Evidence for local production of pottery in the central Negev was discovered only at Har Yeruham site but the distribution of the products of this workshop was rather limited. The proportion of pottery from each production center varies from one assemblage to another. The petrographic study also revealed that a main production center for pottery was located in the Jerusalem area, most likely at the site of Nahal Refaim. The archaeological and socioeconomic implications of these results are discussed in detail.
Ostraca and a Seal Impression from
Tell Nimrîn, Jordan
DEIRDRE DEMPSEY
Department of Theology
Marquette University
Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881
Nine ostraca (eight legible) and one seal impression were found during the 1993
season at Tell Nimrin, Jordan. All the ostraca are single-word inscriptions, written in
an Aramaic cursive script of the late fourth century B.C.E. The seal impression is
similar to the Yehud stamps published by Avigad.
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