Posted on 05/11/2026 8:04:39 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The Nahal Mishmar Hoard is an archaeological discovery of more than 400 copper objects from the Chalcolithic period, found in the Judean Desert in 1961 by Pessah Bar-Adon, an archaeologist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in a cave at Nahal Mishmar, west of the Dead Sea. It was found by chance during an expedition searching for more of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls.
The findings from Nahal Mishmar represent one of the most important hoards of ancient metal objects ever discovered and provide scholars with valuable insight into Copper Age metallurgy and society in the Levant. The objects, mostly made of copper but some of ivory and stone, date from the 5th millennium BCE, between 4500 and 3500 BC.
The hoard was found in a cave that had been used as a burial chamber, wrapped in linen cloths, suggesting it had been deliberately hidden. Archaeologists such as David Ussishkin have suggested that it may have been the cultic furnishings of the Chalcolithic temple of Ein Gedi, located about 12 kilometers away, which is from the same period and shows signs of having been quickly abandoned and destroyed.
(Excerpt) Read more at labrujulaverde.com ...
That’s pretty cool.
(Personally, I would like to have a tiara.)
Pessah used to stand on the side of the hill and stand very several minutes, smoking his pipe (which looked like an old Sherlock Holmes pipe), just staring at the excavation. You knew he would raise that bony finger and point it at the next spot he wanted to dig. By that time, Pessah was in his early nineties and had a bit of palsy, so his hands would shake. But he had a unique sense of focus that I have rarely seen in others.
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I’ll guess that the hoard is what was a work shop , some of those items look like tools for metal working .
I dunno about wearing that as a crown without a chin strap. One false move and that thing would land on the royal toe.
As some speculate, it may be more symbolic /ritualistic.
Sez here it got the name from the excavations at Teleilat el-Ghassul.
Which is it?
“When I was a fighting-man, the kettle-drums they beat, The people scattered gold-dust before my horse’s feet; But now I am a great king, the people hound my track With poison in my wine-cup, and daggers at my back.” — Robert E. Howard
Y’mean, because I put that in the title? The article is correct, the headline is incorrect.
Looks like he knew what he was doin’!
Symbolic of being the king, sure. When he wore it on his head.
Ibex Scepter, Nahal Mishmar hoard (Wikipedia)Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China
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“Bethany thing” is supposed to have been “But that thing”.
Autocorrect gone stupid.
He did. I went to a few lunches with him and whenever he entered the room, all of the young Archaeologists ‘genuflected’. I wish I had known him twenty years earlier. Archaeology is an incredible, low paying, back stabbing profession in Israel. At least when I was there.
As you know, by the time of the Six Day War Israel still didn't run broadcast stations most of the day because there wasn't money for it. Now the country is the jewel of the Middle East (outside of the UAE's Abu Dhabi answer to Disneyworld) thanks to conscientious self defense, hard work, emphasis on higher ed, and a market economy. Probably a lot of rescue archaeology gets done, just due to the layers of occupation going back 1000s of years and small area to build anything.
How many people ever knew they were living in year zero? I bet they didn’t suspect anything.
I have to say that in terms of Archaeology, Israel is the most target rich environment on earth. I cannot tell you how many Tells I have passed knowing the settlement underneath it, and no funds to excavate it. Literally, if you stub your toe in the dirt, you can start a dig that will find artifacts.
Thanks.I migght well have done that myself. But I did look it up. The Copper (Chalcolitic) Age is a long one and overlaps the later technological improvement period titled Bronze Age. They are not the same.
It bridged the Neolithic and Bronze Ages.
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