The Beginnings and the Development of Early Metallurgy and the Settlement and Chronology of the Western Arabah, from the Chalcolithic Period to Early Bronze Age IV

Abstract

In the Arabah and Sinaz, habitations, burials and metallurgical workshops dated between the Chalcolithic and EB IV strongly indicate the existence of an autochthonous, pastoral population with its own cultural developments and chronology. The current view that most of the early sites of Sinai and the southern Negeb were Aradian-Canaanite EB II settlements is erroneous. The intrusive Aradian EB II sites were trading stations not directly connected with mining and smelting. The paper proposes the use of phase-rather than period-related chronological concepts: the Sinai-Arabah Copper Age—Early, Middle and Late Phase. These phases reflect the slow technological and cultural developments in this region.