ELABORATELY DECORATED CHALCOLITHIC BASALT VESSELS: REGIONALIZATION, CONVENTIONS AND PRESTIGE ITEMS
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-11-09

The Late Chalcolithic period of the southern Levant (ca. 4,500–3,900 calBC) marks increased social complexity, new cult and burial customs, technological developments and a rise in craft specialization. At the same time, increasing regionalization is observed within the ceramic, flint, stone, copper and ivory industries. These regional patterns are also exhibited, in part, within the basalt vessel industry. Chalcolithic basalt vessels were frequently meticulously made, with either a flat or a fenestrated pedestal base. Unlike preceding periods, many of these vessels were decorated. While the vessels and the most common decoration forms were used over a wide geographic span, a relatively small number of these vessels bear unique incised elaborate designs and were regionally bound. This group was constrained primarily to the area between the Yarkon River and the Negev Desert in Israel, an area distant from high quality basalt sources. This elaborate decoration is defined as a complex set and combination of geometric motifs that cover the entire or most of the exterior vessel wall.
The excessive time, effort and skill invested in the formation of the elaborate decorations as well as the unique pattern each vessel bears, in contrast to the conventional decoration forms, added to the high-risk and demanding efforts put into the vessel manufacture, suggesting that these elaborately decorated basalt vessels were greatly appreciated. The relatively small number of these highly invested vessels, in general and within the decorated basalt vessels, suggests that these were regarded as prestige goods,
and that they were probably used for special purposes or occasions. The distribution of these vessels, overlapping with the distribution of other prestige goods, further indicates that their function and social and economic values were geographically restricted.

Author(s): Chasan, Rivka - Rosenberg, Danny (Laboratory for Ground Stone Tools Research, Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University
of Haifa)