Four Iron Age Silver Hoards from Southern Phoenicia
From Bundles to Hacksilber
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15912949 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tzilla Eshel (0000-0003-0976-0877, corresponding author), Naama Yahalom-Mack, Naama Yahalom‐mack (0000-0002-9296-8435), Sariel Shalev, Ofir Tirosh, Yigal Erel (0000-0001-8319-5111), Ayelet Gilboa (0000-0002-5601-2962) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 379 |
| Pages | 197-228 |
| Publication date | 2018-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-097X • E-ISSN: 2161-8062 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.5615/bullamerschoorie.379.0197 |
| OpenAlex | W2804726876 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 25 |
| References cited | 30 |
Iron Age silver in the Levant has attracted scholarly attention regarding its function as currency. Scholars debate whether hacksilber can be interpreted as representing a pre-monetary economic system, using pre-portioned silver exchanged in standardized weights, which inspired the invention of coins. In this study, four Iron Age silver hoards from southern Phoenicia (Tell Keisan, Tel Dor, ʿEin Hofez, and ʿAkko) are examined from archaeological and analytical perspectives. The combination of a contextual analysis of the hoards, a typological study of the items in them, chemical analysis, and comparison with other Bronze and Iron Age southern Levantine hoards implies that the use of silver as currency changed throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages. In particular, contrary to common interpretations, the hoarding of silver in stamped bundles and the practice of hacking silver do not represent a single phenomenon. Rather, bundling was gradually replaced by the practice of hacking silver ingots to verify their quality. In Iron Age II, during every transaction, the hacked items were weighed using miniature silver items to balance the scales. We conclude that the “hacked silver” economic system was not based on “pre-weighing” and therefore cannot be defined as heralding the use of coins
Ancient history · Archaeology · Bronze · Bronze Age · Currency · Economics · Hoarding (animal behavior · Iron Age · Metallurgy · Numismatics · Phoenician · Precious metal · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Ancient Near East History · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Geology · History · Materials Science
The Origins of Money in the Iron Age Mediterranean World
The Archaeology of the Mediterranean Iron Age
The Southern Levantine Roots of the Phoenician Mercantile Phenomenon
The Metrological Systems of the Final Bronze Age Balance Weights and the Pre-Roman Coinage of Atlantic Iberia
Todos los caminos llevan a Chipre
Understanding Money Through Archaeology
Keseph
From Iberia to the Southern Levant
Hoarding at Megiddo in the Late Bronze and Iron I
The earliest silver currency hoards in the Southern Levant
Metal provenance of Iron Age Hacksilber hoards in the southern Levant
Pollution and human mobility in the southern Levant during the Iron Age using chemical and isotopic analysis of human tooth enamel
How is forgery of ancient silver identified? A reply to Elsayed-Ali (2021)
Debasement of silver throughout the Late Bronze – Iron Age transition in the Southern Levant
Perceptible differences in material properties of Ag and its alloys with Cu–As
The poster boys of antiquity's "capitalism" shunning money? The spread of the alphabet in the Mediterranean as a function of a credit-based, maritime trade
One Thousand Years of Mediterranean Silver Trade to the Levant
Hierarchy, Geography and Epigraphy
On gold recycling. A physicochemical point of view
Lead isotopes may link the earliest silver hoard from Megiddo to the military campaign of Thutmose III
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“Coinage Before Coins?”
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The Fortress Mound at Tel Arad an Interim Report
New insights into Levantine copper trade
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Cycladic Lead and Silver Metallurgy
Development of the Radiocarbon Calibration Program
Radiocarbon Calibration and Analysis of Stratigraphy
Absolute Chronology of Megiddo, Israel, in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages
How Mineralogy and Geochemistry Can Improve the Significance of P b Isotopes in Metal Provenance Studies
Chemical Composition and Lead Isotopy of Metal Objects from the "Royal" Tomb and Other Related Finds at Arslantepe, Eastern Anatolia
Imperial Catastrophe or Local Incident? An Akkadian Hoard from Tell Brak, Syria
Archaeology, science-based archaeology and the Mediterranean Bronze Age metals trade
A study of the composition and microstructure of silver hoards from Tel Beth-Shean, Tel Dor, and Tel Miqne, Israel
Metal provenancing using isotopes and the Oxford archaeological lead isotope database (Oxalid)
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The beginning of Iron Age copper production in the southern Levant
Reassessing the chronology of Biblical Edom
| Unique citing works | 25 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,57 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2025 (7) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 25 |