DAFNA GAZIT/ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY
On the final day of excavations at Horvat Raqiq (near Be’er Sheva) a few years ago, archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority chanced on an intriguing find: three basalt bowls intentionally nestled together, one tucked inside another and the third on top like a cover. Within the bowls was a small pile of dirt containing numerous ivory fragments.
It was only later in the laboratory that experts came to appreciate the magnitude of the find. The fragments were pieces of elephant tusk ivory. After painstaking cleaning, sorting, and reconstruction, researchers concluded the pieces came from a small jar dating to about 4000 BCE, during the Chalcolithic period, making this the first Chalcolithic ivory vessel ever discovered in Israel.
The 8-inch-tall jar is a type of amphoriskos, which was typically used to hold ointment or perfume. On the jar’s outer surface are four tiny holes, arranged symmetrically with two at the base of the vessel and two at its top, which may have served as handles or had rope threaded through them.
The vessel appears to have been broken already in antiquity, then deposited with care inside the basalt bowls. This suggests cultic or ritual activity of some kind. The ivory itself attests to early prehistoric contact between Africa and the southern Levant; however, it is unclear whether the piece arrived at Horvat Raqiq already carved or was made on site using imported ivory.
On the final day of excavations at Horvat Raqiq (near Be’er Sheva) a few years ago, archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority chanced on an intriguing find: three basalt bowls intentionally nestled together, one tucked inside another and the third on top like a cover. Within the bowls was a small pile of dirt containing numerous ivory fragments. It was only later in the laboratory that experts came to appreciate the magnitude of the find. The fragments were pieces of elephant tusk ivory. After painstaking cleaning, sorting, and reconstruction, researchers concluded the pieces came from a small jar dating to […]
