A crown from the hoard (replica),
Hecht Museum,
HaifaA photo of the discovery
The Nahal Mishmar hoard is the
hoard of archaeological artifacts found by a 1961 expedition led by
Pessah Bar-Adon in a cave by
Nahal Mishmar in the
Judaean Desert near the
Dead Sea, Israel. The collection wrapped in a straw mat found under debris in a natural crevice contained 442 objects: 429 of copper, six of hematite, one of stone, five of hippopotamus ivory, and one of elephant ivory.
Carbon-14 dating of the mat suggests the date at least 3,500 BCE, i.e., it places the hoard into the
Chalcolithic period.[1][2][3][4][5]
The goat wandObjects made from
hippopotamus tusks, cut lengthwise in the shape of a
scythe and pierced with three rows of round holes, in the center of which is a hole surrounded by a raised rim.
Origin of the hoard
The objects of the hoard seem to be collected in a hurry.[1] There are several theories about the origin of the hoard. Archaeologist
David Ussishkin has suggested the hoard may have been the cultic furniture of the abandoned
Chalcolithic Temple of Ein Gedi about 7 miles (11 km) south from the site.[6][7]Yosef Garfinkel stated that no proof have been provided for the connection of the hoard with the temple and suggested that this was a burial of cult objects, to prevent their desecration, drawing a parallel with the find in the
Nahal Hemar Cave[8] Miriam Tadmor suggests that it was a kind of merchants' warehouse, judging from the amount of mundane objects, as well as tools and raw materials.[9] It was also suggested that a possible alternate source of the hoard could have been another cultic location, at the place of some fragmentary ruins near the cave.[5]
^Usishkin, David (1971). "The "Ghassulian" Temple in Ein Gedi and the Origin of the Hoard from Nahal Mishmar". The Biblical Archaeologist. 34 (1). American Schools of Oriental Research: 23–39.
doi:
10.2307/3210951.
JSTOR3210951.
S2CID165729267.
^Garfinkel Y. "Ritual Burial of Cultic Objects: The Earliest Evidence", Cambridge Archaeological Journal 4 (1994), 159-188,
doi:
10.1017/S0959774300001062
^Tadmor, M. (1989). The Judean desert Treasure from Nahal Mishmar, A Chalcolithic Trader's Hoard? In Leonard, A. and Williams, B. (eds.) Essays in Ancient Civilizations, Presented to Helene J. Kantor SAOC 47: 249-261