ARCHAEOMAGNETIC DATING OF COPPER SMELTING SITE F2 IN THE TIMNA VALLEY (ISRAEL) AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE MODELLING OF ANCIENT TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Open accessAbstract
Site F2 in the Timna Valley, Israel, is a small copper smelting site of ‘primitive’ technology, dated by its excavator to the Pottery Neolithic (sixth to fifth millennium bce). This early date challenges the common view of the beginning of smelting technology in the Levant and has been contested by various scholars since its publication. In this study, we present results of archaeointensity experiments conducted on slag fragments from the site. The slag yielded an excellent ancient geomagnetic value (64.1 ± 1.1 μT) that, when compared to the Levantine master curve, suggests an age not older than the second millennium and most probably between the 13th and 11th centuries bce. In addition to demonstrating the applicability of geomagnetic archaeointensity experiments to independent dating of slag, we discuss the implications of the current results for the socio‐historical picture of the Timna Valley, and in particular for the way in which technological developments were previously modelled in the archaeometallurgical research on the region.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the archaeological research of the Levant, the growing body of archaeomagnetic data enables an increasingly reliable dating method.
“In the archaeological research of the Levant, the growing body of archaeomagnetic data [19–21] enables an increasingly reliable dating method [22–24].”
From The Earth’s magnetic field in Jerusalem during the Babylonian destruction: A unique reference for field behavior and an anchor for archaeomagnetic dating (2020) · cites this paper as [22]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Sur l'intensite du champ magnetique terrestre dans le passe historique et geologique
Thellier, E. (1959) · Annales Geophysicae · Cited by 1,112 · see citing works
Bull, R. K. (1986) · International Journal of Radiation Applications and Instrumentation Part D Nuclear Tracks and Radiation Measurements · doi:10.1016/1359-0189(86)90064-6 · Cited by 714 · see citing works
Social Anthropology of Technology
Pfaffenberger, B. (1992) · Annual Review of Anthropology · doi:10.1146/annurev.an.21.100192.002423 · Cited by 695 · see citing works
Tauxe, L. (2010) · University of California Press eBooks · doi:10.1525/9780520946378 · Cited by 532 · see citing works
Self-citationTauxe, L., & Staudigel, H. (2004) · Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems · doi:10.1029/2003gc000635 · Cited by 367 · see citing works
Self-citationContinuous geomagnetic field models for the past 7 millennia: 2. CALS7K
Korte, M., & Constable, C. G. (2005) · Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems · doi:10.1029/2004gc000801 · Cited by 308 · see citing works
Time variations in geomagnetic intensity
Valet, J. (2003) · Reviews of Geophysics · doi:10.1029/2001rg000104 · Cited by 291 · see citing works
(2010) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.47-6885 · Cited by 283 · see citing works
The Social Dynamics of Technology: Practice, Politics, and World Views
Dobres, M. (1999) · Cited by 216 · see citing works
GEOMAGIA50: An archeointensity database with PHP and MySQL
Korhonen, K., Donadini, F., Riisager, P., & PESONEN, L. J. (2008) · Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems · doi:10.1029/2007gc001893 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Geomagnetic intensity spike recorded in high resolution slag deposit in Southern Jordan
Ben‐Yosef, E., Tauxe, L., Levy, T. E., et al. (2009) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.09.001 · Cited by 120 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Prehistory of Jordan, II: Perspectives from 1997
Rosen, S. A., Gebel, H. G. K., Kafafi, Z. A.-K., & Rollefson, G. O. (2000) · Journal of the American Oriental Society · doi:10.2307/604892 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Social approaches to an industrial past: the archaeology and anthropology of mining
(1999) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.37-0399 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Eight thousand years of geomagnetic field intensity variations in the eastern Mediterranean
Genevey, A., Gallet, Y., & Margueron, J. (2003) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth · doi:10.1029/2001jb001612 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Possible impact of the Earth's magnetic field on the history of ancient civilizations
GALLET, Y., GENEVEY, A., LEGOFF, M., FLUTEAU, F., & ALIESHRAGHI, S. (2006) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2006.04.001 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Dating fired-clay ceramics using long-term power law rehydroxylation kinetics
Wilson, M., Carter, M. A., Hall, C., et al. (2009) · Proceedings of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspa.2009.0117 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Prehistoric metalworking in the southern Levant: Archaeometallurgical and social perspectives
Levy, T. E., & Shalev, S. (1989) · World Archaeology · doi:10.1080/00438243.1989.9980078 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Self-citationApplication of copper slag in geomagnetic archaeointensity research
Ben‐Yosef, E., Ron, H., Tauxe, L., Agnon, A., Genevey, A., Levy, T. E., Avner, U., & Najjar, M. (2008) · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres · doi:10.1029/2007jb005235 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Self-citationHigh-temperature archeointensity measurements from Mesopotamia
Gallet, Y., & Le Goff, M. (2006) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2005.09.058 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Nonlinear thermoremanence acquisition and implications for paleointensity data
Selkin, P. A., Gee, J. S., & Tauxe, L. (2007) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2007.01.017 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Self-citationBen‐Yosef, E., Tauxe, L., Ron, H., Agnon, A., Avner, U., Najjar, M., & Levy, T. E. (2008) · Journal of Archaeological Science · doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.05.016 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Self-citationRothenberg, B., & Glass, J. (1992) · Levant · doi:10.1179/007589192790220829 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Shaar, R., Ron, H., Tauxe, L., et al. (2010) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.12.022 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Self-citationRothenberg, B. (1999) · Palestine Exploration Quarterly · doi:10.1179/peq.1999.131.2.149 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Archaeomagnetic investigation and dating of Neolithic archaeological site (Kovachevo) from Bulgaria
Jordanova, N., Kovacheva, M., & Kostadinova‐Avramova, M. (2004) · Physics of The Earth and Planetary Interiors · doi:10.1016/j.pepi.2004.02.012 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Rothenberg, B. (1999) · Palestine Exploration Quarterly · doi:10.1179/peq.1999.131.1.68 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Pazdur, A., Pazdur, M. F., & Zastawny, A. (1979) · Radiocarbon · doi:10.1017/s0033822200004343 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Hauptmann, A. (1999) · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Shaar, R., Ben-Yosef, E., Ron, H., Tauxe, L., Agnon, A., & Kessel, R. (2011) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.11.013 · Cited by 125 · see citing works
Self-citationShaar, R., Tauxe, L., Ron, H., Ebert, Y., Zuckerman, S., Finkelstein, I., & Agnon, A. (2016) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2016.02.038 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Self-citationBen-Yosef, E., Liss, B., Yagel, O. A., Tirosh, O., Najjar, M., & Levy, T. E. (2019) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0221967 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Self-citationVaknin, Y., Shaar, R., Gadot, Y., Shalev, Y., Lipschits, O., & Ben-Yosef, E. (2020) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0237029 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Self-citationPeters, I., Tauxe, L., & Ben‐Yosef, E. (2018) · Archaeometry · doi:10.1111/arcm.12322 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- BEN‐YOSEF, E., TAUXE, L., & LEVY, T. E.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US)
- Venue
- Archaeometry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-04-26
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1110-1121
- ISSN
- 0003-813X (ISSN-L)
- 1475-4754
- OpenAlex
- W2135635134
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 0.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Archaeometry (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0636051)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies
- Social Sciences › Archeology › Metallurgy and Cultural Artifacts
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Keywords
- archaeomagnetic dating, copper smelting, slag, archaeointensity, geomagnetic field intensity, Pottery Neolithic, Iron Age, Levant, archaeometallurgy, technological change
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
