A new study by the University of Haifa and the Hebrew University reveals for the first time the beginning of the use of silver coins as a means of payment in the ancient southern Levant (Land of Israel) as early as the Middle Bronze Age, that is, about 3,600 years ago. The source from which the money came: Anatolia (Turkey). The researchers: “evidence of continuous trade”
Published on: 8.1.23 10:42
A new joint study by the University of Haifa and the Hebrew University reveals for the first time the beginning of the use of silver coins as a means of payment in the ancient southern Levant (Land of Israel) as early as the Middle Bronze Age, about 3,600 years ago. The study even identifies Anatolia (Turkey) as the source from which the money came – something that indicates continuous and long-term trade with Asia Minor.
“The transition to an economic method based on non-perishable silver coins that have a small volume and weight, compared to grain for example, had many advantages and new possibilities that certainly contributed to the urban and economic development of the entire area, but it also required that the silver coins would continue to arrive frequently – evidence of long and stable trade relations with Anatolia that were unknown to researchers at this time,” said Dr. Tsila Eshel from the University of Haifa who led the study.
The use of silver coins as a means of payment was known in the Mesopotamia region as early as the third millennium BC, but in the southern Levant region, known in the Bible as the Land of Canaan, until now it was common to think that such use was common only in the Iron Age, starting from the 12th century BC, and this despite that silver trading between Hazor and Mari (in Syria) is mentioned in financial documents found in Hazor from the Middle Bronze Age. The silver coins are pieces of silver whose unpolished form clearly indicates that they are not jewelry or ornaments, and the fact that they were usually found together, wrapped in cloth and kept inside a pottery vessel, indicates that they were used as a means of payment.
Discus and Sahron from Tel Gezer after cleaning (Photo: Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority)
In previous studies by the team of researchers – Dr. Eshel, Prof. Yigal Aral and Prof. Naama Yahlom-Mack from the Hebrew University and Prof. Ayelet Gilboa from the University of Haifa – they dealt extensively with silver hoards from the Iron Age and locating their origin. However, the research on the silver traces revealed Dr. Eshel Because in previous excavations, some from recent years and some even decades ago, hoards of silver from earlier periods were found – the end of the Middle Bronze Age and the beginning of the Late Bronze Age, that is, the 17th and 16th centuries BC. However, so far there has not been a comprehensive research look at these findings, and the perception that the use of silver coins in the southern Levant began in the Iron Age continued to be the dominant perception.
In the current study, the researchers examined silver hoards from Tel Shiloh and Tel Gezer dated to the end of the Middle Bronze Age, i.e. from the 17th century BC, and hoards from Tell al-Agul dated to the beginning of the Late Bronze Age, i.e. the 16th century BC. “In the first step, we had to determine that these were indeed silver coins that were used for payment,” explained the researchers, “their shape, the fact that many of them looked like bracelets made in different sizes, that is, not ornamental, and the fact that they were found in public areas – inside a warehouse or near the city gate – led We are led to assume that these are indeed silver coins that were used for trade.”
The second step was to see if it is a large enough amount that it can be assumed that this is a large and comprehensive phenomenon and not a sporadic case that is not representative. According to the researchers, the amount of silver traces in the hoards in Shiloh and Gezer was not small, and in addition, in old excavation reports of Tel Gezer several more silver hoards from the Middle and Late Bronze periods were published – which indicates a large distribution of silver traces in the settlement.
Items from the Tel al-Ajul hoards (Photo: Courtesy of the Antiquities Authority)
“The researchers’ perception was that the use of silver as a means of payment was a phenomenon that characterizes the Iron Age, but when we examined it in depth, we saw that the use of silver coins has already existed since the Middle Bronze Age. The amounts of silver coins in the hoards at Tell al-Ajul can illustrate this well – in these hoards objects were found A gold ornament, but when we examined the composition of the hoards, it turned out that there were much more pieces of silver, and precisely the gold objects were the minority,” the researchers said.
After coming to the conclusion that the quantities of silver coins indicate their widespread use as a means of payment, and since lead from which silver is produced is not found in the Levant region, the researchers asked to know what their origin was. To identify the source of silver, an isotopic test can be performed on it and compared to the isotopic composition of ores of known origin and other silver objects. In the examination carried out by the researchers, a similarity was found to lead originating in Anatolia and to ancient silver objects found in excavations in Anatolia. Also, other findings found in the vicinity of the hoards, such as an ax head or a pendant that most likely originate from Anatolia, led the researchers to the conclusion that the most likely source of the money is from there.
“The meaning is that we are witnessing the first evidence that there was a continuous and long-term trade of metals from the Levant region to Anatolia already in the 17th century BC. We know for sure that in the Iron Age this trade existed, but our findings move the beginning of such trade in metals back at least 500 years “The use of silver coins in the north, in Mesopotamia and Anatolia is known from a much earlier period, so it makes sense that the tightening of trade with these regions in the Middle Bronze Age also brought with it the use of the payment methods of these regions,” concluded the researchers.
The research was made possible thanks to the cooperation of the researchers with Dr. Tzvika Tzuk from the joint expedition for excavations in the Tel Gezer National Park of the Nature and Parks Authority and the Baptist Theological Seminary of New Orleans under the auspices of the Antiquities Authority, and with various parties in the Antiquities Authority and the Rockefeller Museum who made it possible to sample the findings for analysis. The research was funded by By a grant from the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the Rottenstreich Foundation and internal grants at the University of Haifa and the Hebrew University.
A carrot cache when it was found (Photo: Gary Myers)