Scoperto e restaurato vaso di 6000 anni fa realizzato con una zanna d’elefante

9 Aprile

Scoperto e restaurato vaso di 6000 anni fa realizzato con una zanna d’elefante. Fu oggetto di un rito oscuro. Cosa conteneva?

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Un raro vaso d’avorio, ricavato dalla lavorazione di una zanna d’elefante, avvenuta 6.000 anni fa è stato scoperto in uno scavo archeologico nel sud di Israele e sottoposto a restauro. Il ritrovamento – che era stato tenuto segreto – è stato annunciato poco fa dall’Israel Antiquities Authority, a restauro avvenuto. L’oggetto risale al calcolitico, cioè all’Età del Rame.

Il ritrovamento è avvenuto in uno scavo dell’Autorità per le Antichità israeliane vicino a Beer Sheva. “Il raro vascello, noto nella ricerca come “amphoriskos” (un barattolo), attesta i rapporti commerciali tra la terra d’Israele e l’Egitto seimila anni fa. – dice l’autorità archeologica – Il reperto sarà presentato al pubblico per la prima volta questo giovedì a Gerusalemme nell’ambito della conferenza annuale della Società Preistorica Israel. La conferenza si terrà presso al Campus Nazionale di Archeologia Jay e Jeannie Schottenstein, dove saranno presentati nuovi reperti degli ultimi anni di scavi preistorici”.

Nel corso dello scavo vicino a Beer Sheva è stato portato alla luce un antico insediamento con spazi che furono scavati nel suolo. “Verso la fine dei lavori, quando l’archeologo Emil Aladjem stava facendo le ultime misure, ha notato il bordo di un vaso di basalto. – prosegue l’Israel Antiquities Authority – Di conseguenza, lo scavo è stato ampliato, ha rivelato tre grandi ciotole, impressionanti. I contenitori erano stati deposti nel modo seguente: due di essi erano stati collocati uno nell’altro, mentre il terzo fungeva da copertura per entrambi. Quando la piastra superiore è stata rimossa, la piastra inferiore ha rivelato d’essere piena di terra, all’interno della quale si trovavano i pezzi frantumati di un vaso d’avorio, materiale raro e prezioso”.

“Dal modo in cui sono state sistemate le ciotole, il vaso d’avorio, rotto già nell’antichità, è stato chiaramente sepolto in maniera deliberata – il che sembrerebbe attestare l’importanza attribuitagli”, ha spiegato anche il dottor Ianir Milevski, ex responsabile della sezione preistorica dell’Autorità Israel Antichities e oggi anche collaboratore del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Argentine. – I vasi sono stati appositamente sistemati in maniera specifica, con attenta premeditazione. Nei circoli accademici è generalmente accettato che i depositi di statuette e vasi rotti e le sepolture siano parte di attività cerimoniali”.

“Il vaso è di 20 centimetri di diametro. È bellissimo, ed eccezionale nel suo design”, aggiunge il Dr. Milevski. “Le piccole maniglie laterali sono disposte simmetricamente. Due i esse sono inserite nel collo del recipiente, altre due sono state disposte verticalmente verso la base”.

I direttori degli scavi Avishai Levi-Hevroni e Martin Pasternak della Israel Antichities Authority hanno portato i reperti e il loro contenuto al Campus Nazionale di Archeologia Jay e Jeannie Schottenstein. In collaborazione con il Dr. Ianir Milevski e la Dr. Liora Kolska Horwitz dell’Università Ebraica di Gerusalemme, il team ha raggiunto la prima comprensione della natura del vaso, che è stato realizzato con zanna di elefante. Il processo di conservazione e restauro guidato da Olga Negnevitsky, esperta di conservazione dell’avorio, è stato estremamente complesso e ha richiesto molta pazienza.
L’obiettivo era ricostruire la nave dai suoi pezzi nella sua forma originale, salvaguardandone l’autenticità e il valore storico.

“Questo ritrovamento approfondisce la nostra comprensione del periodo calcolitico e degli scambi culturali della nostra regione con culture vicine e lontane”, dicono i ricercatori. “Una delle domande più interessanti su questo contenitore”, aggiungono Levi-Hevroni e il Dr. Milevski, “è se il vaso sia giunto qui completamente realizzato o se la zanna d’avorio sia stata importata qui come materia prima e poi scolpita da un artigiano locale. Il contenitore è ben fatto e utilizza al massimo la zanna originale, che era un materiale pregiato. Se è stato prodotto qui, rivela l’alto standard degli artigiani locali”.

Ulteriori analisi biomolecolari, che saranno effettuate dal Dr. Harel Shochat dell’Università di Haifa e dal Dr. Liora Kolska Horwitz dell’Università Ebraica di Gerusalemme, stabiliranno da dove è nato l’avorio in base alla dieta dell’elefante.

Si tratta ora di capire cosa potesse contenere originariamente il vaso d’avorio e conoscere il motivo della complessa sepoltura. Una cerimonia di fondazione, forse, con una ricca offerta agli Dei? E’ evidente che i contenitori di basalto e il vaso d’avorio appartenessero a un mondo superiore.

https://stilearte.it/scoperto-e-restaurato-vaso-di-6000-anni-fa-realizzato-con-una-zanna-delefante-fu-oggetto-di-un-rito-oscuro-cosa-conteneva/

9 Aprile

IAA discovers rare 6,000-year-old elephant ivory vessel near Beersheba A video detailing the discovery of the ivory vessel. (Emil Aladjem, Antiquities Authority)

The discovery provides evidence of ties between this region and Egypt in the Chalcolithic period.

An ivory vessel made from an elephant tusk that serves as evidence of ties between our region and Egypt going back to the Chalcolithic period (about 4500 to 3500 BCE) has been uncovered in an Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) excavation near Beersheba.

Found shattered to pieces in the excavation, the vessel was “brought back to life” in the IAA’s treatment laboratories. The tusk – which seems to have been part of a cultic vessel used for burial – will be displayed this Thursday at the annual Israel Prehistoric Society Conference.

This is the first time a Chalcolithic-period ivory vessel has been found in our region. The vessel was found shattered to pieces in 2020. Brought to the IAA labs, it was restored in a complicated conservation process. The conference will take place at the Jay and Jeannie Schottenstein National Archaeology Campus on Museum Hill in Jerusalem where new finds will be presented from recent years of prehistoric period excavations. The IAA excavation at Horbat Raqiq uncovered an ancient settlement with subterranean spaces dug into rich, dust-like loess soil. Towards the end of the excavation, as IAA archaeologist Emil Aladjem was making his last measurements, he noticed the edge of a basalt vessel.

The broken ivory vessel deposited within the large basalt bowls. (credit: Davida Dagan, Antiquities Authority)

As a result, the excavation was expanded, revealing three large impressive vessels. They were arranged in a way that two vessels were placed one in the other, with the third acting as a cover for them both. When the upper plate was removed, the lower plate was discovered to be full of earth, within which lay the shattered pieces of an ivory vessel – a rare and precious material.

“From the manner in which the bowls were arranged, the ivory vessel – which had been broken already in antiquity, was clearly interred in a deliberate fashion; this would seem to attest to the importance attributed to it,” explained Dr. Ianir Milevski, former head of the IAA’s prehistoric branch who is also associated with the National Research Council of Argentina.

The vessels were intentionally set in a specific manner, with careful forethought. In academic circles it is generally accepted that figurine and broken vessel deposits and burials are part of cultic ceremonial activities.

“The vessel is 20 centimeters across. It is gorgeous, and exceptional in its design,” Milevski added. “The small side handles are symmetrically arranged, with two handles set into the vessel’s neck and two additional handles vertically below them at its base. “

After its initial discovery, IAA excavation directors Avishai Levi-Hevroni and Martin Pasternak brought the vessels and their contents to the National Archaeology Campus.

In cooperation with Dr. Ianir Milevski and Dr. Liora Kolska Horwitz of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU), the team achieved the first understanding of the vessel’s nature – it was made from elephant tusk ivory.

The conservation and restoration process led by Olga Negnevitsky, an expert in ivory conservation, was extremely complex and demanded a lot of patience. The aim was to reconstruct the vessel out of its pieces unto its original form while safeguarding its authenticity and historical value.

Deepens understanding of prehistoric regional exchange ties

“This find deepens our understanding of the Chalcolithic period and of the cultural exchange ties of our region with both neighboring and distant cultures,” the researchers noted.

“One of the most interesting questions regarding this vessel,” said Levi-Hevroni and Milevski, “is whether the vessel was brought here fully designed or whether the ivory tusk was brought here as raw material and then sculpted by a local craftsperson.

The vessel is well-made, and makes maximum use of the original tusk – which was a most precious material. If it was manufactured here, it reveals the high standard of craftspeople who dwelt here, who knew how to treat ivory, and also knew elephant anatomy.” Further biomolecular analyses that will be carried out by Dr. Harel Shochat of the University of Haifa and Kolska Horwitz of HU will establish where the ivory originated from, based on the elephant’s diet.

https://m.jpost.com/science/article-796098

9 Aprile

The rare ivory vessel uncovered in southern Israel. What does this pot have to do with relations with Egypt 6,000 years ago?Credit: Emil Aladjem / Antiquities Authority

A jar made of elephant ivory found at a Chalcolithic site near Be'er Sheva seems to have been ritually buried 6,000 years ago, the Israel Antiquities Authority revealed on Tuesday.

The oddness of the beautifully crafted discovery made during the IAA excavation of Horvat Raqiq is multifaceted, but in any case the discovery of the ivory amphoriskos – "small jar" – where no elephant had tread for almost half a million years strengthens the case of cultural ties between the Be'er Sheva Valley and ancient Egypt 6,000 years ago, the archaeologists say.

Our story starts in 2020 with the excavation of a Chalcolithic settlement at Horvat Raqiq, directed by Avishai Levi-Hevroni and Martin Pasternak of the IAA. Much of the late-prehistoric settlement in the Negev is subterranean, with chambers and tunnels dug into the loess soil.

Towards the end of the dig, IAA photographer Emil Aladjem noticed the rim of a basalt object. Exploring there, the archaeologists found three large bowls skillfully crafted from the volcanic rock, with a surprise inside.

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One bowl was nestled in another bowl, sort of like we organize soup bowls in the cupboard.

Open gallery view

The broken ivory vessel deposited within the large basalt bowls.Credit: Davida Dagan / Antiquities Authority

When the upper bowl was removed, the lower one was found to be full of earth. And in that soil lay the shattered pieces of an ivory vessel – "a rare and precious material," the IAA points out.

Exit the elephant

Ivory has been found before in the context of prehistoric Israel (and biblical Israel too), but nothing like this one, let alone ritually buried inside three clearly valuable bowls, says Dr. Ianir Milevski, former head of the Israel Antiquities Authority's prehistoric branch and also associated with the National Research Council of Argentina.

Nor have objects akin to this amphoriskos been found anywhere in the southern Levant, or even in Egypt, to the best of his knowledge based on conversations with colleagues and his perusal of the literature.

Which demands the question of why the archaeologists think this pot and its funeral attests to relations with Egypt 6,000 years ago. The answer lies in both substance and style.

Open gallery view

The ivory vessel with its globular shape and two pairs of small handles, which was uncovered in an excavation near Be'er Sheva.Credit: Emil Aladjem / Antiquities Authority

First let's look at the vessel. Its unique qualities include its globular shape and two pairs of small handles, one on the jar's shoulder near the lip and the other near the base. Its form was revealed through the conservation and restoration process led by Olga Negnevitsky, an expert in ivory conservation.

"Archaeology is the art of what we found and the 20 we didn't find – the conception in archaeology is sometimes very distorted. People think that's the reality, but it isn't, that's what we found," Milevski qualifies. Maybe ivory amphoriskoses with shoulder and bottom handles were all over the place, but this is the only one found so far.

Note that the amphoriskos was buried broken, it hadn't been broken post-facto. Milevski adds that the whole thing is dated by the context of the site and typology of the basalt bowls, which is clearly Chalcolithic.

It bears stressing that archaeologists had found another small but differently shaped ivory vessel in Be'er Sheva and an ivory fragment near the modern city. "Probably they're from the same time," Milevski tells Haaretz by telephone. One is also made of elephant ivory.

And the other? Not known. Maybe elephant – or hippopotamus.

Open gallery view

Veterinarian Arthur Trindade examines a hippo's teeth at BioParque do Rio, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, February 28.Credit: Pilar Olivares/Reuters

The elephant went extinct in Israel 400,000 years ago. The hippo only died out here 3,000 years ago. Most of the ivory found in the context of the Chalcolithic Israel, such as at Nahal Mishmar and at a few sites on the Sharon plain, originated in the hippo, but it wasn't used to make jars, rather to make figurines and tools.

Experts can distinguish between ancient elephant and ancient hippo tissue, which was done here by Milevski with Dr. Liora Kolska Horwitz. Since this pot was made of elephant, the raw material was not local.

Theoretically, Milevski points out, the tusk (or finished pot) could have originated in either an African elephant or an Asian one. Isotope analysis, which is slated to be pursued by Kolska Horowitz, could tell us definitively where the animal grew up, but we can be confident it wasn't in Israel because there weren't any elephants here in the Chalcolithic.

There were elephants in Egypt. "The elephant lived all over Egypt during the Paleolithic and Neolithic as late as the Neolithic (Chalcolithic) period (4,000 B.C.), Several predynastic depictions of elephants are known from this time," according to the 2016 paper "Elephant in ancient Egypt (A Philological – Religious Study)."

Milevski deems the African origin more plausible, and notes that either the tusk or the finished pot was imported. The pot could have been made anywhere in North Africa, as Egypt had ties with the Nubian cultures, or in a local workshop. Importing a "raw" tusk and working it here wouldn't have been that difficult.

Open gallery view

The broken ivory vessel deposited within the large basalt bowls. "Maybe there was some kind of exchange of ideas [with Egypt]."Credit: Davida Dagan / Antiquities Authority

So what have we? A pot of unique shape, made of ivory from an elephant, probably an African one, found in the Chalcolithic Be'er Sheva Valley which also featured figurines made of hippo ivory that were crafted in the Egyptian fashion (meaning, the Badarian culture, which was the Egyptian version of the Chalcolithic).

"We have to connect all these things to the same phenomenon: the relationship with Egypt," Milevski sums up. "Maybe there was some kind of exchange of ideas. Or maybe the local craftspeople trained there. Or Egyptians came to the Levant and lived here. But the iconography of the figurines is Egyptian, not local."

Secondary burial of a jar

But why do the archaeologists feel this broken jar, imported or made locally 6,000 years ago, was ritually interred? Because the assembly, bowls and pot, were found in a pit in the context of a settlement from the Chalcolithic period which, like cultures before and after it, engaged in secondary burial.

Secondary burial means that after the body decays, the bones are collected and placed in an ossuary, which is interred. This was done in a wide range of cultures around the world, from the prehistoric to the Roman period.

Open gallery view

Broken vessel, dated to the Chalcolithic period, within the large basalt bowls. Broken by accident or broken for its supposed ritual burial?Credit: Davida Dagan / Antiquities Authority

This exotic pot was presumably cherished. Whether it broke by accident and was then mourned and buried, or was broken for its supposed funeral cannot be known, but Milevski suspects ritual.

"In academic circles, it is generally accepted that figurine and broken vessel deposits and burials are part of cultic ceremonial activities," the IAA stated.

He himself found a broken human figurine inside an ossuary in a past excavation, Milevski says. "The bowls are not unique but they would have been valuable because they were very well made, with decoration – and the raw material is not local. They're made from basalt from Jordan or the area of Sea of Galilee or Golan or Yarmuk river or east of the Dead Sea in Jordan."

Israel has no active volcanoes but it has dozens of dormant ones up north. In fact the Golan Heights is a volcanic plateau. But both the ivory for the pot and the basalt had to be hauled over long distances, hundreds of kilometers,before reaching their place of final rest in a pit next to Be'er Sheva.

The pot and its context will be presented to the public on Thursday at the annual Israel Prehistoric Society conference in Jerusalem at the Jay and Jeannie Schottenstein National Archaeology Campus

The rare ivory vessel uncovered in southern Israel. What does this pot have to do with relations with Egypt 6,000 years ago?

A jar made of elephant ivory found at a Chalcolithic site near Be'er Sheva seems to have been ritually buried 6,000 years ago, the Israel Antiquities Authority revealed on Tuesday.

The oddness of the beautifully crafted discovery made during the IAA excavation of Horvat Raqiq is multifaceted, but in any case the discovery of the ivory amphoriskos – "small jar" – where no elephant had tread for almost half a million years strengthens the case of cultural ties between the Be'er Sheva Valley and ancient Egypt 6,000 years ago, the archaeologists say.

Our story starts in 2020 with the excavation of a Chalcolithic settlement at Horvat Raqiq, directed by Avishai Levi-Hevroni and Martin Pasternak of the IAA. Much of the late-prehistoric settlement in the Negev is subterranean, with chambers and tunnels dug into the loess soil.

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