Identification of Fazael 2 (4000–3900 BCE) as first lost wax casting workshop in the Chalcolithic Southern Levant

Thomas Rose; Shay Bar; Yotam Assher; Yuval Goren

doi:10.1186/s40494-023-01029-9

Identification of Fazael 2 (4000–3900 BCE) as first lost wax casting workshop in the Chalcolithic Southern Levant

Thomas Rose, Shay Bar, Yotam Assher, Yuval Goren

Department of Archaeology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Apart from many lost wax cast metal fragments, crucible fragments and several heated sediment nodules were found at the Chalcolithic site Fazael 2 (central Jordan Valley). Petrographic investigations on the heated sediment nodules revealed many features characteristic of the Chalcolithic Southern Levantine lost wax casting moulds. Heating temperatures were assessed using infrared spectroscopy, showing that casting did not vitrify the clay fraction in the moulds. Consequently, Fazael is the first identified Chalcolithic Southern Levant production site for lost wax cast metal items. These findings confirm the existence of a metallurgical tradition with lost wax casting in the Jordan Valley parallel to the unalloyed copper metallurgy in the Northern Negev. Moreover, crucibles and heated sediment nodules are made of local ferruginous loess, a material not mentioned in previous studies on lost wax casting mould fragments. Therefore, the existence of more than one such production site must be assumed.

Original language	English
Article number	192
Journal	Heritage Science
Volume	11
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-023-01029-9
State	Published - Dec 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 766311. This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 457/21).

Funding Information:
The presented research is part of a PhD project carried out by TR and supervised by YG, PF, and Francesca Balossi Restelli (Sapienza - Università di Roma). The excavation was supported by the Jordan Valley Regional Council. The authors thank Haggai Cohen-Klonymus (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) for his support as area manager of Fazael 2 and Roxana Golan (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva) for operating the SEM. The comments of the reviewers considerably improved the article.

Funding Information:
The presented research is part of a PhD project carried out by TR and supervised by YG, PF, and Francesca Balossi Restelli (Sapienza - Università di Roma). The excavation was supported by the Jordan Valley Regional Council. The authors thank Haggai Cohen-Klonymus (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) for his support as area manager of Fazael 2 and Roxana Golan (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva) for operating the SEM. The comments of the reviewers considerably improved the article.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Keywords

Chalcolithic
Crucible
Fazael
Lost wax casting
Metallurgy
Mould
Petrography
Southern Levant

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Conservation
Chemistry (miscellaneous)
Archaeology
Materials Science (miscellaneous)
Archaeology
Computer Science Applications
Spectroscopy

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10.1186/s40494-023-01029-9

Cite this

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title = "Identification of Fazael 2 (4000–3900 BCE) as first lost wax casting workshop in the Chalcolithic Southern Levant",

abstract = "Apart from many lost wax cast metal fragments, crucible fragments and several heated sediment nodules were found at the Chalcolithic site Fazael 2 (central Jordan Valley). Petrographic investigations on the heated sediment nodules revealed many features characteristic of the Chalcolithic Southern Levantine lost wax casting moulds. Heating temperatures were assessed using infrared spectroscopy, showing that casting did not vitrify the clay fraction in the moulds. Consequently, Fazael is the first identified Chalcolithic Southern Levant production site for lost wax cast metal items. These findings confirm the existence of a metallurgical tradition with lost wax casting in the Jordan Valley parallel to the unalloyed copper metallurgy in the Northern Negev. Moreover, crucibles and heated sediment nodules are made of local ferruginous loess, a material not mentioned in previous studies on lost wax casting mould fragments. Therefore, the existence of more than one such production site must be assumed.",

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note = "Funding Information: This project has received funding from the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk{\l}odowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 766311. This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 457/21). Funding Information: The presented research is part of a PhD project carried out by TR and supervised by YG, PF, and Francesca Balossi Restelli (Sapienza - Universit{\`a} di Roma). The excavation was supported by the Jordan Valley Regional Council. The authors thank Haggai Cohen-Klonymus (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) for his support as area manager of Fazael 2 and Roxana Golan (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva) for operating the SEM. The comments of the reviewers considerably improved the article. Funding Information: The presented research is part of a PhD project carried out by TR and supervised by YG, PF, and Francesca Balossi Restelli (Sapienza - Universit{\`a} di Roma). The excavation was supported by the Jordan Valley Regional Council. The authors thank Haggai Cohen-Klonymus (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) for his support as area manager of Fazael 2 and Roxana Golan (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva) for operating the SEM. The comments of the reviewers considerably improved the article. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.",

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Identification of Fazael 2 (4000–3900 BCE) as first lost wax casting workshop in the Chalcolithic Southern Levant

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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