RT Article
T1 Four Iron Age Silver Hoards from Southern Phoenicia: From Bundles to Hacksilber
JF Bulletin of ASOR
IS 379
SP 197
OP 228
A1 Eshel, Tzilla
A1 Erel, Yigal
A1 Gilboa, Ayelet
A1 Šālêw, Śarîʾēl ca. 20./21. Jh.
A1 Tirosh, Ofir
A1 Yahalom-Mack, Naama
LA English
PB The University of Chicago Press
YR 2018
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1577314581
AB Iron Age silver in the Levant has attracted scholarly attention regarding its function as currency. Scholars debate whether hacksilber can be interpreted as representing a pre-monetary economic system, using pre-portioned silver exchanged in standardized weights, which inspired the invention of coins. In this study, four Iron Age silver hoards from southern Phoenicia (Tell Keisan, Tel Dor, 'Ein Hofez, and 'Akko) are examined from archaeological and analytical perspectives. The combination of a contextual analysis of the hoards, a typological study of the items in them, chemical analysis, and comparison with other Bronze and Iron Age southern Levantine hoards implies that the use of silver as currency changed throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages. In particular, contrary to common interpretations, the hoarding of silver in stamped bundles and the practice of hacking silver do not represent a single phenomenon. Rather, bundling was gradually replaced by the practice of hacking silver ingots to verify their quality. In Iron Age II, during every transaction, the hacked items were weighed using miniature silver items to balance the scales. We conclude that the "hacked silver" economic system was not based on "pre-weighing" and therefore cannot be defined as heralding the use of coins.
K1 Iron Age
K1 Phoenicia
K1 XRF
K1 Currency
K1 Forgery
K1 hacked ingots
K1 hacksilber
K1 Hoards
K1 mixing
K1 Silver
DO 10.5615/bullamerschoorie.379.0197