The Nahal Qanah Cave: Earliest Gold in the Southern Levant (Monograph Series No. 12)

The detailed archaeological report of the physically and logistically difficult excavation of this remarkable cave on the western slopes of the Samaria hills which was used intermittently from the Neolithic until the Early Bronze Age I incorporates results of interdisciplinary studies on the pottery, metal, archaeobotanical, faunal, and human remains. Analysis of the burials for which the cave was used during the Chalcolithic period reveals new aspects of Ghassulian social and mortuary customs as well as an extensive trade network involving luxury objects and the most precious of all metals gold and electrum. Archaeology Title Pages 2 Contents 6 List of Figures 8 List of Colour Plates 10 Preface (By Avi Gopher) 12 Chapter 1: Intoduction (By: Tsvika Tsuk and Avi Gopher) 14 Discovery and Excavation (By: Tsvika Tsuk) 14 The Environmental Setting (By: Avi Gopher and Tsvika Tsuk) 19 Excavation Technique and Methodology (By: Avi Gopher and Tsvika Tsuk) 20 Chapter 2: Description of the Cave and Excavation Areas (By: Avi Gopher and Tsvika Tsuk) 26 Layout and Excavation Areas 26 Architectural Features 58 Chapter 3: The Heolithic Assemblage (By: Avi Gopher) 66 Pottery 66 Chipped Stone Assemblage 85 Groundstone Tools 86 Summary 93 Chapter 4: The Chalcolithic Assemblages (By: Avi Gopher and Tsvika Tsuk) 104 Pottery 104 Stone Objects 122 Metal Objects 127 Ivory and Bone Objects 137 Ornaments 141 Miscellaneous 141 Summary 143 Early Bronze Age 144 Pottery 144 Metal Objects 148 Summary 148 Later Periods 148 Chapter 5: Geology and Speleology of the Cave System (By: Amos Frumkin) 152 Chapter 6: Petrographic Study of the Pottery Assemblage (By: Yuval Goren) 160 Chapter 7: Metallurgical and Metalographic Studies 168 Copper Objects (By: Sariel Shalev) 168 Gold and Electrum Objects (By: Avi Gopher and Tsvika Tsuk) 178 Chapter 8: Human Skeletal Remains (By: Israel Hershkovitz and Avi Gopher) 188 Chapter 9: Faunal Remains (By: Liora Kolska Horowitz) 194 Appendix: Fish Bones from the Nahal Qanah Cave (By: Omri Lernau) 213 Chapter 10: Archaeobotanical Investigations (By: Nili Liphschitz) 215 Chapter 11: Radiocarbon Dates (By: Israel Carmi) 218 Chapter 12: Conclusion ((By: Avi Gopher and Tsvika Tsuk)) 222 History of the Cave 222 The Neolithic Period 226 The Chalcolithic Period 228 The Nahal Qanah Cave in the Ghassulian Context 230 Socio-economic Aspects of the Ghassulian Culture 239 The Archaeological Contribution of the Nahal Qanah Cave 247 List of Abbreviations 257 List of Loci 258 Inventory of Basalt Objects 261 Archaeology,Israel,Nahal Qanah,Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University