A Kin-based Trade Partnership Model for Obsidian in the Halafian Interaction Sphere: A View from the Southern Levant Wadi Rabah Culture

Abstract

The abundance of obsidian at the Pottery Neolithic Wadi Rabah culture (7600/500–6800 cal. bp) settlement of Hagoshrim IV in northern Israel, the rich repertoire of stamp seals, and imported chlorite vessels at the site, as well as the presence of skilled obsidian knappers, indicate intensive trade. Reviewing the archaeological data, we propose that the obsidian discovered at Hagoshrim IV and at other Wadi Rabah sites of the southern Levant reflects one of the earliest forms of a kin-based direct trade. Kin-based direct trade partnerships revolve around the migration of family members from the source area of the goods to areas in which the goods are highly valued to form trading communities and act as agents to receive them. We further propose that Hagoshrim acted as a possible trading community, interacting with the Wadi Rabah settlements of northern Israel and that the transition in the source of the obsidian from mainly central Anatolian sources (in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period) to mainly Eastern Anatolian sources (in the Pottery Neolithic period) is connected with changes occurring at the source areas of the obsidian, possibly the rise of the Halaf cultural complex in the northern Levant c. 7900 cal. bp. All these indicate that the Wadi Rabah culture was well integrated in the expanding interaction sphere of the Middle and Late Halafian.