|
Original Historical Documents |
|
EA Letters Institute of Mineralogy/Petrography Norwegian Rockhound
Applied Petrography | For much more see this source Here!
Encyclopedia
| |
| Early Bronze Metallic Wares
(Based on Raphael Greenberg & Naomi Porat, `A 3rd Millenium Levantine Pottery Production Center" Typology, Petrography, and Provenance of Metallic Ware of Northern Israel and Adjacent Regions' in BASOR, Feb 1996, p. 5-24.) |
|
Types of Wares Saucers, Platter-bowls, jugs and jugglets, small jars, pithos, etc. |
Period Association A single `metallic ware (MW)' in EB I context was reported from Tel Yaqush, about half way between Beth Shean and the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee, a discovery which needs more study according to the authors. The vast majority of these wares were made in the EB II typology tradition, in strata above late EB I and has little in common with EB I forms. At sites lacking EB I wares, `MW' appear in quantity in the lowest strata (Hazor, Tel Dan). At the other end of the time spectrum, sites containing `MW' do not show evidence of EB III occupation (Qiryat Ata, Me'ona, Tel Te'o). At sites with EB III occuption, the relative quantity of `MW" is drastically reduced (Khirbet Kerak Ware at Qishyon, Tel Yaqush, Hazor, and Tel Bet Yerah). However, at both Hazor and Tel Qishyon, phases have been reportedly identified with isolated Khirbet Kerak sherds appearing alongside abundant Metallic Ware, suggesting a possible overlap. In CIAS opinion that might make the previous statements intending to find clear separation as to time (EB) assignments irrelevant. They were used throughout the whole of at least EB II-III. | Micro Petrography The paste of which `MW' is made is mainly composed of shale fragments (ca. up to 15%), quartz (up to 5%), and carbonates (<5%). Shale: From red and yellow to gray or black. Black shale are rich in minute iron oxides, red & yellow shale indicate a natural state of oxidation of iron within the clay. Gray results from a reducing atmosphere in the kiln. Quartz: Coarse (sand sized) and fine (silty), sometimes with growth rims and coated with iron oxides. No feldpars were found. Tourmaline and zircon are rare, and no other, less stable, heavy metals have been identified, suggesting that the source of the quartz is in mature sandstones. The finer quartz is angular and poorly sorted, and its origin is siltstone. Carbonates: Most samples contain some limestone grains which often appear milky because it has decomposed to varying degrees, due to firing temperatures that exceed 850°C. Under those conditions, the original texture of the limestone is no longer preserved. Siltstone: These are rock fragments, aggregates of silty quartz cemented with clay minerals or iron oxides. Fine mica laths are occasionally found. With increased clay mineral contents, siltstone grades into shale fragments, and with increasing iron oxide content it grades into iron oxide grains. Basalt & Other Volcanic Fragments: These vary in texture which can include trachytic texture, with elongated and oriented plagioclase laths. The colorless phase is almost isotropic interpreted as noncrystalline silicate, the other phase is opaque suggesting a mafic source, composed of hematite and magnetide. Electron microprobe analyses shows them to be highly weatherd volcanic rocks, where kaolinite has replaced plagioclase laths while the iron-bearing minerals were weathered to iron oxides. Oolites: Usually round grains of iron oxide sometimes with a concentric internal structure, and a carbonate composition may be observed. | Source Areas Found in locations mostly west of the Sea of Galilee in a 30-40 kilometer radius, from Beth Shean in the south toward Megiddo and up near the coast to about Tyre toward the Hula Valley and down south again along the Jordan River Valley.
Supposed Origin |
| El Amarna Tablets |
| EA Letters | Elemental Groupings | Chemical Analysis/Addit. Comments | Micro-Paleontology | Geological Environments Source Area |
| 1, 14 Written to Babylon | Esnah shale of Upper Egypt especially from the Esna-Idfu region |
| 162, 163 Written to Amurru, western Syria | Esnah shale of Upper Egypt especially from the Esna-Idfu region |
| 190, 367, 370 Written to rulers in Canaan | Esnah shale of Upper Egypt especially from the Esna-Idfu region |
| 163 | Typical example of Nile silt |
| 33-35, 37, 38 Written by Alashiya to Egypt | EA#33, 34, 38 consist of cream to buff color marl of good plasticity of the Pakhma formation found around Kouklia, Alassa and Kalavasos. | Contains marl with a few calcareos & volcanic rock fragments. EA 37 contains a more clay-rich matrix with abundant inclusions of weathered spilitic basalt, lime-stone, low-grade metamorphic [40] graywacke, quartz and flint. |
Basic volcanic and lesser sedimentary rocks. Composite characteristics: On a margin of an ophiolite complex where pillow lavas and dolerite are exposed, and bordering a sedimentary area containing carbonatic, argillaceous and siliceous rocks. Ex. a) the Troodos mountains, Cyprus - EA#37 & RS.L.1; b) the Mersin and c) Pozanti-Karsanti massif of NW Syria; d) Kizildag in Hatay in southern Turkey; e) the Baer-Bassif massif of NW Syria.
|
| |
| RS. L.1 Written by Alashiya to Ugarit | Reddish clay with poorly sorted, angular inclusions of dolerite, limestone, serpentine and flint. |
Basic volcanic and lesser sedimentary rocks. Composite characteristics: On a margin of an ophiolite complex where pillow lavas and dolerite are exposed, and bordering a sedimentary area containing carbonatic, argillaceous and siliceous rocks. Ex. a) the Troodos mountains, Cyprus - EA#37 & RS.L.1; b) the Mersin and c) Pozanti-Karsanti massif of NW Syria; d) Kizildag in Hatay in southern Turkey; e) the Baer-Bassif massif of NW Syria.
|
| |
| 60, 157 | Composed of diverse shale, ferruginous to argillaceous, and ferruginous ooliths, quartz sand and siltstone. Also contains tuff and weathered basalt fragments. | Mountains east of Tripoli, Lebanon. |
| 61, 62, 156 159 | Contain Neogene marl | Miocene or Pliocene era exposures east and south of Tripoli, Nahr el-Awdeh, Tell Arde (Ardata?). |
| 161, 164, 169-171 | Contains marl with foraminifers of Neogene recent age. Inclusions include primarily igneous, usually basalt and rarely dolerite, together with limestone and some quartz. | Inland part of the Akkar Plain (near Halba, Tell Arqa and Nahr el-Kebir) where marine deposits and volcanics appear jointly. |
| 59 Written by a citizen of Tunip to pharaoh. |
It is said that glauconite is formed by marine diagenesis of materials in shallow water at a time of slow sedimentation. It may appear as impurities in limestones and marls. When in high proportions they form `greensands', a term for the color. Glauconite is a potential source for dating by the Potassium-Argon method. In Syria glauconite is reportedly found in restricted areas: 1. in the Palmyrids depression, the southern slopes of the Halab uplift, the western slopes of Jebel Anseriyeh, and much more seldom on the eastern slopes of the Anti-Lebanon, however, the western slopes of the Anti-Lebanon would be closer to Baalbek/Dan/Tunip. Comment: Recently inscriptional evidence was found that Baalbek was Tunip. |
Under crossed polarizers, green bar size=0.2 mm. A) 1. glauconite pellets (green spheres) 2. chalk (white bodies) in foraminiferous marl. B) 1. Coralline alga (Amphiroa sp. algae) |
Said to belong to the Paleogene Age. Comments: While current information wants to locate Tunip at Tell Asharneh along the bank of the Orontes River, inside Syria, we believe that the Baaka Valley region, closer to Baalbek, also has soil which might contain glauconite since amber was found there in some quantities before the Arab uprising in Lebanon. The amber came from the resin of ancient buried trees. Glauconite or Potash is a Phyllosilicate of the Mica group and can be found in marine sediments close to a coast. Anciently the Baaka Valley may have been submerged for a time by the ocean since the Lebanese mountains are known to be rich sources of high quality fish and marine fossils. |
| 167 | Contains Coralline alga (Amphira sp. algae) |
| 259 | Contains partly chloritized spilite. |
| 249 | Contains Jordan sand, including basalt, chalk and quartz. |
| 165-167 | Contain coralline alga, Amphiroa sp. algae, flint, igneous minerals such as serpentine and olivine. | Contain Pleistocene to Holocene beach deposits, Senonian or Eocene flint. The only coastal place where these sediments occur together is the coastal area of the Akkar Plain. The mafic elements were probably transported there from the basalts of Nahr el-Kebir. Corresponds to the general setting of Tell Kazel. |
| Late Period Phoenician Hellenistic Wares (Based on Andrea M. Berlin, `From Monarchy to Markets: The Phoenicians in Hellenistic Palestine' in BASOR, May 1997, p. 75-88.) |
| Types of Wares Baggy Jars, table jugs, table amphorae, lagynos, juglets, amphoriskos, unguentariuns, etc. | Micro Petrography Thin sectioning: fine, dense clay matrix - sand, fragmentary and crushed gastropod shells, and occasionally clam shells. Indicates clay source was quite close to the coast. | Source Areas Southern Phoenicia, Cyprus, Oumm el-Amed (20 km south of Tyre - site of a single, simple farm on a small plain facing the sea). |
|
Additional Sources for Information A map of northern Israel survey areas includes: Tel Dan, Abel Abel Bet Ma`acah, Te'o (Teo), Kinnerot, Reqet (Khirbet el-Quneitra), Bet Yerah, Qishyon, Qashish, Ta'anakh, Yoqne'am, Yaqush; All located between Bet Shean, the Med. Sea and the Hula Valley. The southern Lebanese Beqa, the Golan plateau, Galilee, the Jezreel Valley and Tel Taanakh is the source of much EB II and III metallic ware, pottery ware that sounds metallic when lightly struck. [100] The article describes the petrography of ware from Tel Dan and Tel Teo. EB IV Petrographic Differences from the following sources: 1) Har Dimon located in the Negeb SE of Beth Pelet and W of the Dead Sea. Described as `Lower Cretaceous group, Ferruginous shales with Nubian sandstone quartz grains.; 2) Nahal Refaim not far from Bethelem, south of Jerusalem; described as Moza clay and dolomitic sand group.; 3) Mashabei Sadeh, located W of Har Dimon; described as Arkose group, Granitic arkose; 4) Beer Resisim (nearby); described as Mollusk fossil shell fragments and from the same location 5) a) Loess and calcareous/ quartz sand group. b) Nile silt group.[200] |
|
|
| Conglomerate | When coarse gravel is lithified within a matrix. | Coarse gravel | There are clast-supported and matrix-supported coarse gravels. | Clast-gravel | When rocks touch each other and the voids are filled with matrix. |
| Matrix-gravel | The rocks are almost entirely surrounded by matrix. | Mass-wasting | As in the flow of debris, a landslide or a slump. | littoral | along beaches |
| "Percussion marks appear limited to relatively smooth clasts of hard and vitreous, cryptocrystalline or microcrystalline lithologies (i.e. hard, brittle, strong, homogeneous materials) that collide at relative velocities of at least several meters per second. Percussion marks alone are indicative of a highly energetic and erosive environment." [300] |
| Articles |
|
[0010] Yuval Goren, Israel Finkelstein & Nadav Na'aman, `The Expansion of the Kingdom of Amurru According to the Petrographic Investigation of the Amarna Tablets' in BASOR, Feb 2003, No. 329, p. 1-11. [0020] Photomicrographs from Shiqmim and Pseira, Cyprus compared in BA, Vol. 51, p. 198f. [0030] See Carl Wieland, `Radiometric Breakthroughs', http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v26/i2/radiometric.asp, or/and Geophysics and 6 Days. [040] For interesting info on metamorphic rocks called `eclogite' click here. [100] Raphael Greenberg, A Third Millenium Levantine Pottery Production Center in BASOR, Feb 1996, p. 5-24. [200] Yuval Goren, The Southern Levant in the EB IV Age in BASOR, Aug 1996, p. 33-72. [300] Michael J. Oard & Peter Klevberg, Deposits Remaining from the Genesis Flood: Rim Gravels in Arizona in Creation Research Society Quarterly (CRSQ), Vol. 42, June 2005, p. 1-(6,7)-17. |