A 5,500-year-old flint blade production workshop was uncovered near Kiryat Gat, Israel in a salvage excavation conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority. The findings include long flint blades and large stone cores used in their production, a rare occurrence in archaeological finds. The excavation was funded by the Israel Land Authority as part of the establishment of the Karmi Gat neighborhood in Kiryat Gat. The artifacts were uncovered at the Nahal Komem site, also known as Gat-Govrin or Zeita.
"This is the first time such a workshop has been discovered in southern Israel. Although evidence of the Canaanite blade industry has been discovered in the country's center and north, there are almost no known workshops for their systematic production. The exposure of a sophisticated workshop indicates a society with a complex social and economic structure already at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age. This is an important finding that deepens the understanding of the beginnings of urbanization and professional specialization in the Land of Israel—phenomena that led to the establishment of large settlements and the growth of new social structures," said Dr. Martin David Pasternak, Shira Lifshitz, and Dr. Nathan Ben-Ari, excavation directors on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The excavation indicated that the settlement extended over a much larger area than previous estimates—more than half a kilometer—and included hundreds of underground pits, some lined with mud bricks. These pits served a variety of purposes: storage, dwellings, craftsmanship, and rituals. The workshop itself exhibited specialization in technology, including the use of a lever to apply pressure on the flint.
"An advanced industry was revealed at the site, requiring an extremely high level of expertise. Only exceptional individuals knew how to produce the Canaanite blades. This is clear evidence that already at the beginning of the Bronze Age, the local society was organized and complex, and it had professional specialization," said Dr. Jacob Vardi and Dudu Biton, prehistorians from the Israel Antiquities Authority. Dr. Vardi added, "Today, we understand that the site served as a center from which Canaanite blades were distributed to wide areas in the Levant."
"This is a sophisticated industry—not only because of the tools themselves, but also because of what was not found. The waste fragments were not scattered outside the site—perhaps to keep the professional knowledge within the group of experts," he further explained.
The Canaanite blades were the main cutting tools during this period and were also used as harvesting tools, like sickle blades. The blades themselves served as knives for cutting and butchering, as well as tools for harvesting, indicating their importance in daily life. During the Early Bronze Age, people used tools made from natural raw materials such as flint, bone, stone, and ceramics.
The archaeological site where the excavation took place served as an active settlement continuously over hundreds of years, from the Chalcolithic period until the Early Bronze Age. The findings from the workshop include large flint cores from which blades with uniform shape were produced. The production technology included the use of a lever to exert pressure on the flint.
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