Excavations at Wadi Fidan 4
A Chalcolithic Village Complex in the Copper Ore District of Feinan, Southern Jordan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10329293 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Russell B Adams (corresponding author), Russell Adams (0000-0001-9644-2126), Hermann Genz |
| Year | 1995 |
| Volume | 127 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 8-20 |
| Publication date | 1995-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Palestine Exploration Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-0328 • E-ISSN: 1743-1301 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1179/peq.1995.127.1.8 |
| OpenAlex | W2065810796 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 40 |
| References cited | 4 |
The site of Wadi Fidan 4 can now be definitively dated as an extended village settlement of the Chalcolithic period. Excavation in Areas A, Band D as well as surface survey of the site indicate that the entire surface of the plateau was covered by buildings. At present no full botanical or faunal reports are available, and as a result little can be said about the subsistence economy. It is clear however from the metallurgical finds and mining picks found on the site, that this community was involved in the mining and smelting of copper. The extent of metal production is probably associated with small-scale domestic production ('household' or 'cottage industry'), as has also been attested on a number of other Chalcolithic sites such as Shiqmim (Levy et al. 1987), Tell Magass (Khalil 1988) and Tell Abu Matar (Perrot 1955). Contrary to later periods, ore was not smelted directly at the mine, but was transported and processed inside the domestic settlements. This seems to be characteristic for metallurgical practices of the Chalcolithic and beginning of the Early Bronze Age, and is paralleled by contemporary sites in Anatolia (Hauptmann and Weisgerber, forthcoming). Wadi Fidan 4 is the first site which is situated in a copper-producing area that shows indisputable evidence of Chalcolithic metallurgical activities.4 This site is not, however, an isolated settlement in the Fidan/Feinan region. Survey has revealed a concentration of Chalcolithic settlements in the Fidan/Feinan area (MacDonald 1992, 56 ff.), including a Chalcolithic cemetery directly opposite Wadi Fidan 4 on the north side of the Wadi Fidan (Adams (1991, 181), as well as a Chalcolithic phase at Tell Wadi Feinan (Najjar et at. 1990, 40). This is hardly surprising since recent work has attested extensive Chalcolithic mining activities in the area (Hauptmann, Weisgerber and Knauf 1985, 171ff.), marking it as one of the main sources for copper during the Chalcolithic period of the Southern Levant (Levy and Shalev 1989, 359; Shalev and Northover 1987, 357 and 362)
Ancient history · Archaeology · Bronze · Bronze Age · Chalcolithic · Copper · Copper mining · Excavation · Geography · Human settlement · Metallurgy · Settlement (finance · Smelting · Wadi · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Historical Studies · History · Metallurgy and Cultural Artifacts
Environment and Land Use in the Wadi Faynan, Southern Jordan
Feinan and the Mediterranean During the Early Bronze Age
Early Bronze Age IA mortuary practices and difference on the south-eastern Dead Sea Plain, Jordan
'Lost Property' at Wadi Qusayr 173
Environment and Land Use in the Wadi Faynan, Southern Jordan
The Wadi Faynan Project
Cultural continuity and asymmetry through the Levantine Early Bronze Age
The Wadi Faynan Project, Southern Jordan
The Significance of Ceramic Assemblages in Chalcolithic Burial Contexts in Israel and Neighboring Regions in the Southern Levant
The Wadi Faynan Fourth and Third Millennia Project, 1997
Soundings at Ash-Shorabat and Khirbat Dubab in the Wadi Hasa, Jordan
The Metallurgical Remains from Ashqelon, Afridar—Areas E, G and H
The Archaeology of the Bronze Age Levant
Dharih (Wadi al-Hasa, Jordan) in the Early Bronze Age
Settlement Systems, Cultural Relationships, and Regional Economy during the Early Bronze Age III–IV in the Northern Shawbak and the Southern Dead Sea Valley
Chronology of the Jafr Prehistory and Protohistory
Bir Madhkur Project
On Early Bronze Age Copper Bar Ingots from the Southern Levant
Copper Objects from Arad
The Besorian
The Organisation of Early Bronze Age Metalworking in the Southern Levant
External Inluences at Faynan During the Early Bronze Age
A Chalcolithic Error
The Chalcolithic Period of the Southern Levant
Carnelian Beads from the Early Bronze Age Fifa Cemetery, Jordan
The mineral wealth of ancient Arabia and its use I
Feinan and the Mediterranean During the Early Bronze Age
An 8000-year history of landscape, climate, and copper exploitation in the Middle East
Sedimentary metal-pollution signatures adjacent to the ancient centre of copper metallurgy at Khirbet Faynan in the desert of southern Jordan
Early Bronze Age copper production systems in the northern Arabah Valley
Fourth Millennium Bc Silver From Tell Esh‐shuna, Jordan
The Chalcolithic Radiocarbon Record and Its Use in Southern Levantine Archaeology
Settlement Patterns in the Southern Levant Deserts During the 6th–3rd Millennia BC
Early Bronze Age metallurgy
Cultural Metallurgy—A Key Factor in the Transition from the Chalcolithic to Bronze Age in the Southern Levant
Social identities and the expansion of stone bead-making in Neolithic Western Asia
The lost-butter technique
Interregional Trade and Exchange at Early Bronze Age Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath
Palestine
Agricultural Intensification and the Secondary Products Revolution Along the Jordan Rift
| Unique citing works | 40 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,33 |
| Citation span | 1996 - 2026 (31) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 28 |