Uri Davidovich

Genomic analysis of 6,000-year-old cultivated grain illuminates the domestication history of barley

The cereal grass barley was domesticated about 10,000 years before the present in the Fertile Crescent and became a founder crop of Neolithic agriculture. Here we report the genome sequences of five 6,000-year-old barley grains excavated at a cave in the Judean Desert close to the Dead Sea. Comparison to whole-exome sequence data from a diversity panel of present-day barley accessions showed the close affinity of ancient samples to extant landraces from the Southern Levant and Egypt, consistent with a proposed origin of domesticated barley in the Upper Jordan Valley. Our findings suggest that barley landraces grown in present-day Israel have not experienced major lineage turnover over the past six millennia, although there is evidence for gene flow between cultivated and sympatric wild populations. We demonstrate the usefulness of ancient genomes from desiccated archaeobotanical remains in informing research into the origin, early domestication and subsequent migration of crop species.

Archaeological investigations and OSL dating of terraces at Ramat Rahel, Israel

Abstract Dating terraces, the most prominent feature of the agricultural landscape in many parts of the world, is a problem for archaeologists. This study presents an interdisciplinary approach that combines archaeological survey and excavations with direct sediment dating of terrace fill using Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL). The study focuses on Ramat Rahel, a multi-period site located in the southern outskirts of modern Jerusalem, Israel, where, on a defined terraced slope chosen for a small-scale landscape archaeology project, three main phases of terrace construction and use were identified. The earliest phase dates to the Late Byzantine/Early Islamic period, the second to medieval times, and the last to the Ottoman period. The results enable a comprehensive reconstruction of the changing local landscape through time and demonstrate the validity of OSL, when combined with archaeological investigations, as a reliable method for terrace dating.

The Earliest Lead Object in the Levant

In the deepest section of a large complex cave in the northern Negev desert, Israel, a bi-conical lead object was found logged onto a wooden shaft. Associated material remains and radiocarbon dating of the shaft place the object within the Late Chalcolithic period, at the late 5th millennium BCE. Based on chemical and lead isotope analysis, we show that this unique object was made of almost pure metallic lead, likely smelted from lead ores originating in the Taurus range in Anatolia. Either the finished object, or the raw material, was brought to the southern Levant, adding another major component to the already-rich Late Chalcolithic metallurgical corpus known to-date. The paper also discusses possible uses of the object, suggesting that it may have been used as a spindle whorl, at least towards its deposition.

The Earliest near Eastern Wooden Spinning Implements

Abstract A unique set of circumstances has preserved a group of rare wooden artefacts deep within burial caves in the southern Levant. Identified as spindles and distaffs, they are fashioned from tamarisk wood and date to the Late Chalcolithic period. Analysis suggests that these implements were used to spin flax fibres, and they provide the earliest evidence for two distinct spinning techniques, drop spinning and supported spinning (with rolling on the thigh). One wooden spindle with the whorl still in place is the oldest such tool to survive intact in the Near East. The lead forming the whorl may have originated in Anatolia, and it is evidence, perhaps, of early long-distance trade.

PERSONAL ORNAMENTS AT THE NAHAL MISHMAR CAVE OF THE TREASURE

A renewed study of beads and pendants from the Cave of the Treasure in Nahal Mishmar (Judean Desert, Israel) was carried out in order to enhance our understanding of south Levantine Chalcolithic personal ornaments. The analysis of raw materials, technology, and style of these items reveal possible connections going as far as Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula to the south and west, and the Indus Valley and Afghanistan to the east. These artifacts complement finds from other Ghassulian Chalcolithic (ca. 4500–3800 b.c.e.) sites and further our understanding of the role of personal ornaments during this timespan.

The Early Bronze IB in the Judean Desert Caves

Abstract The Late Chalcolithic (Ghassulian) is the only period in the 6th–4th millennia chronological sequence that has been discussed in relation to the Judean Desert caves since the discovery of proto-historic remains there some 60 years ago. The notion that everything that is proto-historic in the Judean Desert is Chalcolithic was influenced by the major discoveries of the Ein Gedi Shrine and the Cave of the Treasure in Nahal Mishmar, both having become key sites in the scholarly literature on the Ghassulian culture. Nevertheless, many of the excavated caves contain evidence for a late Early Bronze (EB) I presence within their ceramic assemblages, clearly separated from the Late Chalcolithic phase. This presence has not been recognized in most cases; in some it has been discerned but has not generated meaningful discussion of the artefactual assemblages and their chronological and regional significance. This article reviews the evidence for the occupation of caves in the Judean Desert in the EB IB, and suggests that its date lies within the Erani C cultural horizon. The article argues that this presence accounts for an episode of temporary refuge in the precipitous caves of the Judean Desert, joining the Late Chalcolithic and Early Roman episodes in the same region.

Distancing the Dead: Late Chalcolithic Burials in Large Maze Caves in the Negev Desert, Israel

The Late Chalcolithic of the southern Levant (ca. 4500–3800 b.c.e.) is known for its extensive use of the subterranean sphere for mortuary practices. Numerous natural and hewn caves, constituting formal extramural cemeteries, were used as secondary burial localities for multiple individuals, refecting and reaffirming social order and/or communal identity and ideology. Recently, two large complex caves located in the northern Negev Highlands, south of the densely settled Late Chalcolithic province of the Beersheba Valley, yielded skeletal evidence for secondary interment of select individuals accompanied by sets of material culture that share distinct similarities. The observed patterns suggest that the interred individuals belonged to sedentary communities engaging in animal husbandry, and they were deliberately distanced after their death, both above-ground (into the desert) and underground (deep inside subterranean mazes), deviating from common cultural practices.

On Chalcolithic maceheads and spinning implements

We are grateful to Ben-Yosef et al. (above) for their thorough critical evaluation of our recent paper. We identified a group of modified wooden shafts originating in two large complex caves with Late Chalcolithic (Ghassulian) burials in the Negev Desert (Israel) as the earliest Levantine wooden spinning implements (Langgut et al. 2016). Their detailed assessment culminated in the alternative hypothesis that the wooden objects functioned as sticks that carried metal maceheads during rituals. This raises several issues that merit serious consideration. Our response to Ben-Yosef et al.s suggestions is divided into two sections, each concentrating on one of the two main technologies under discussion: spinning and metallurgy.