Carnelian Beads from the Early Bronze Age Fifa Cemetery, Jordan: Aspects of Technology, Use, and Exchange

Between 1989 and 1990 the Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain excavated a group of 15 tombs at the Early Bronze Age IA (c.3700–3400) cist-tomb cemetery at Fifa, Jordan. These tombs contained a variety of grave goods including beads made from carnelian. The present study employs morphometric data and microscopic indicators of manufacture and use to explore the relationship between carnelian beads, burial practices, manufacturing processes, and exchange. Manufacturing traces suggest that the beads from Fifa were created through a process of knapping and progressive stages of abrasion. Beads were perforated through pecking on one or two sides. Polish from use was observed on beads throughout the assemblage, suggesting that the beads were worn prior to their deposition, albeit for an unknown period of time. The amount of this use polish was highly variable suggesting that different beads were in use for greater or lesser periods of time. Morphometric and manufacturing data were utilized in tandem in order to suggest where the beads were produced. While a great deal of prior scholarship has suggested that carnelian beads found in the Early Bronze Age Levant originated in Egypt, we argue that some or all of these beads may alternatively have been produced in Northwestern Arabia or Eastern Jordan. This study demonstrates the value of systematic approaches to the study of beads in order to better understand processes of ritual behavior, craft production, and exchange.