The geochemical evidence from basaltic rock tools in the southern Levant: Reconstruction of trade and exchange systems during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age I periods in Israel

拟议研究的首要目标是帮助理解南黎凡特地区(约公元前4500-2950年)石器时代和青铜时代早期(约公元前4500-2950年)长途贸易和交换背后的社会和经济机制。我们的重点是有选择地由玄武岩制成的器皿、陶轮和主轴螺纹，这种岩石具有明确的地球化学特征，因此是重建贸易和交易系统以及确定工具来源的理想工具。此外，玄武岩作为这些工具类型的原材料的明显选择表明，显然不仅仅是它的材料特性。使用玄武岩往往意味着偏爱非当地原材料，这就提出了一些基本问题，涉及这种原材料的社会功能意义、旅行距离、贸易路线以及交换这些物品的社会和经济机制的性质。从以色列不同的胆石和青铜时代早期遗址中挑选出来的工具将进行详细的考古分析，并被记录和取样，以确定它们的地球化学指纹。文物样品将通过X射线荧光(XRF)、电子探针(EMP)和激光烧蚀电感耦合等离子体质谱(LA-ICP-MS)进行分析，以测试所使用的玄武岩原料的站点间和站点内的可变性，这取决于工具类型和年代，并确定可能的交换地点和分配中心。由于对潜在原料来源的调查是确定物源的必要条件，对潜在玄武岩来源的深入地球化学研究将发挥重要作用。根据人工制品的分析结果、我们自己从地质样品中获得的初步地球化学数据以及来自已公布来源的数据，我们将约束可能的玄武岩矿床，并以高分辨率对这些潜在的原材料进行采样。这些岩石样品将用XRF/EMP和LA-ICPMS进行地球化学分析。我们的目标是弄清楚该地区玄武岩之间的详细空间差异，这将作为我们确定原材料来源和确定采石场和生产地点的必要背景。所有分析都将得到基于地理信息系统的评估的支持，以直观地显示用于人工制品的原材料的分布以及该油田潜在提取的玄武岩的地球化学-矿物学变异性。到目前为止，这种跨学科的方法在方法上从未在以色列或任何其他(已发表的)考古起源研究中应用过，它代表了真正的基础研究。该项目将产生数据和结果，这将是今后研究的重要投入，不仅在以色列的CHALCOLITIC/EBI玄武岩原料贸易和交换系统中，而且在邻近地区和其他时期。

The overriding objective of the proposed study is to contribute to the understanding of the social and economic mechanisms behind long-distance trade and exchange during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age I periods of the southern Levant (ca. 4500-2950 CalBC). We focus on vessels, potter's wheels and spindle whorls that were selectively made from basaltic rock, which owns the potential of a clear geochemical characterisation, and thus serves as an ideal instrument for reconstructing trade and exchange systems, as well as to determine the tools' provenance. Furthermore, the conspicuous selection of basalt as raw material for these tool types indicates a preference obviously beyond its mere material properties. The use of basaltic rocks often meant favouring non-local raw material, which raises essential questions regarding the socio-functional significance of this raw material, travel distances, trade routes and the nature of the social and economic mechanisms by which these items were exchanged. Selected tools from different Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age I sites in Israel will undergo a detailed archaeological analysis, be documented and sampled to define their geochemical fingerprints. The artefact samples will be analysed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), electron microprobe (EMP) and Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), to test the inter- and intra-site variability of the basaltic raw material used, dependent on tool type and dating, and to identify possible exchange localities and distributions centres. As the investigation of potential raw materials sources is imperative for conclusive provenance determinations, an intensive geochemical study of potential basalt sources will play a major role. Based on the results of the artefacts' analyses, our own preliminary geochemical data from geological samples and data from published sources, we will constrain possible basalt deposits and sample these potential raw materials in high resolution. These rock samples will be analyzed geochemically by XRF/EMP and LA-ICP-MS. We aim to work out detailed spatial differences among the basaltic rocks in the field, which will serve as the necessary background on which we will identify raw material sources and locate quarry and production sites. All analyses will be supported by GIS-based evaluations to visualise the distribution of the raw materials used for the artefacts as well as the geochemical-mineralogical variability of the potentially extracted basaltic rocks in the field. This interdisciplinary approach in its methodological extent was up to now never applied neither in Israel nor in any other (published) archaeometric provenance study, and represents true fundamental research. The project will produce data and results, which will be an essential input for future research, not only in Chalcolithic/EBI basaltic raw material trade and exchange systems in Israel, but also for adjacent regions and other periods.