Ghassulia culture
The Copper Age Ghassulia culture (also Ghassul-Bheersheba culture or Bheersheba culture after another important site, Beersheba ) flourished in the fourth millennium BC. Especially in the Levant . The eponymous site is Teleilat Ghassul northeast of the Dead Sea . The bearers of the culture are also considered to be the builders of the megalithic complexes on the Golan .
The ceramics of the Ghassulia culture are simple and little painted. Elongated clay vessels with eyelets on the upper edge are particularly typical and probably represent a clay copy of a leather vessel. Elevated cups were perhaps once covered with fur and served as drums. The ceramic is not heavily fired and is partly brittle. There were numerous ivory works, some of which depict figures of men and women. Bracelets, pendants and beads made of various materials were found as jewelry.
Different settlements could be excavated. Teleilat Ghassul is made up of various rectangular houses. The rich remains of wall paintings are remarkable. Further settlement remains were found in the Gaza Strip and the Dead Sea. Residential buildings were partly buried in the rocky ground.
Various hoard finds come from the Ghassulia culture . More than 400 copper objects were found in a cave in Nachal Mischmar . A silver and copper treasure also came to light at Kfar Monasch .
In the Tel Aviv area in particular , there were caves that served as burial sites. There were ossuaries on benches . Some of them were made of stone, but most of them were made of clay and represent houses.
The economic basis was apparently cattle breeding. Goats, sheep, pigs and occasional cattle are attested, the latter also as pack animals. There was also arable farming. Barley and wheat were grown.
The settlements of the Ghassulia culture were around 3000 BC. Abandoned BC and not settled again in the following period. There are no signs of a violent demise.
literature
- Jean Perrot : Syrien -Palestine I , Munich 1978. ISBN 3-453-35021-9 , pp. 162-168
- Jonathan N. Tubb : Canaanities , London 1998. ISBN 0714127663 , pp. 32-33
Individual evidence
- ↑ See, inter alia, J. Perrot: Une tombe a ossuaires du IVe millenaire a azor, pres de Tel-Aviv. In: Atiqot 3 (1961), pp. 1-83, panels IX.