Elusive data? Weights and silver in the EBA-MBA southern Levant (Ancient Canaan)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Lorenz Rahmstorf
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 535640589

Developments in ancient economy and market exchange during the early 3rd millennium changed the world as it was known so far. Weights and scales first appeared in Mesopotamia, the northern Levant and Egypt, introducing the ability to measure material value precisely. Contemporaneously, silver hoards first occurred in Mesopotamia, alongside the development cuneiform writing. For the first time, silver was exchanged, by weight, as a means of currency and exchange, and the transactions were documented. These developments enabled an economic leap and the rise of urban civilizations in the Near East, known as the Early Bronze Age (EBA). In the southern Levant (Modern Israel, Palestine, Jordan), in contrast to its surrounding neighbours, weights and silver currency hoards are very rare before the later Middle Bronze Age (MBA), at least this is the current state of research. Although urbanised settlements are known in the southern Levant already during the EBA, it is completely unclear to what extent weight metrology was regularly practised in this region. It is also unknown whether silver was cut and weighed as in Mesopotamia and the northern Levant, and where the silver, which does not occur naturally in the Levant, originated from. As these research questions have hardly been studied, we intend to investigate for the first time whether stones functioned as weights and whether silver functioned as money in the southern Levant prior to the late MBA. Within the project, the exchange of silver, how its value was quantified, where it originated from and what role weights played in this will be investigated. Our work plan includes a systematic collection of potential weights from various EBA-MBA sites in the southern Levant, that will be documented for the first time. Various archaeological indications and statistical tests (Cosine Quantogram Analysis and Monte Carlo Tests) will be applied in order to verify the weight hypothesis. Silver items from EBA and MBA hoards and graves will be investigated for the range of shapes used and they will be weighed and studied for use wear and intentional fragmentation and possible weight regulation. Within this frame, the earliest known electrum rings from Nahal Qana, dated to the 4th millennium BC, will be investigated. Contextual analysis will help to pinpoint potential patterns in the use of weights and silver items. We will also apply a range of chemical analyses of the silver (XRF; ICP-MS; MC-ICP-MS) and hematite weights (XRF; Neutron Diffraction) to ascertain whether the composition is compatible to certain sources in the southern Levant and beyond, indicating patterns of connections and exchange. We will assess and model the quantity, mass, geographical distribution, typology, find contexts, (potential) metrology of weights and silver, contribute to the question of the origin of silver, and frame the silver and weight use within the web of social and economic interactions of Bronze Age Near East.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Israel
• International Co-Applicant: Privatdozentin Tzilla Eshel, Ph.D.