Copper Among the Nomads : Early Bronze Age Copper Objects from the Camel Site , Central Negev , Israel

The origins and development of copper metallurgy in the Southern Levant have been the subject of intensive research for several decades. Focusing on Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age copper metallurgy, researchers have conducted a range of analyses designed to address issues as diverse as technology and its evolution (e.g., Golden 1998; Merkel & Rothenberg 1999; Shalev 1994; Shalev & Northover 1987; Rothenberg & Glass 1992; Rothenberg & Merkel 1998; Key 1980; Potazkin & Bar-Avi 1980), sources of raw materials (Shalev et al. 1992; Tadmor et al. 1995; Shugar 2001), utilitarian function (Moorey 1988), ideological aspects (e.g., Levy 1995), and socio-economic role (Shugar 2001; Levy & Shalev 1989; Golden 1998). Although obviously, and of necessity given the peripheral source areas, a significant trade good, little attention has been directed toward the systematic reconstruction of trade systems for early copper (but see Tadmor et al. 1995). The underlying assumption of most studies has been that copper was the focus of directed trade originating in early market or redistributive centres (e.g., Kempinski 1989; Ilan & Sebbane 1989).

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