Tissue fragments

dating from the 10th century BC.

A team of archaeologists from Tel Aviv University has unearthed dozens of fragments of cloth from the Kingdom of Israel period, from the 12th to the 10th century BC, at the Timna site in the Arava Valley.

Image opposite: Tel Aviv University's archaeological excavation team at the Timna site © TAU. Central Timna Valley Project.

According to the researchers, Prof. Erez Ben-Yossef of Tel-Aviv University and Dr. Naama Sukenik of the Israel Antiquities Authority, these fabrics, the only ones from this period discovered in the Levant, shed a first light on clothing from the biblical period. Department of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University.

Presentation

«Timna is a unique site, with no equivalent in Israel or elsewhere in the Levant,» explains Prof. Ben-Yosef. «The extreme dryness here has enabled the preservation of organic artifacts [...]. Our excavations there began four years ago, and this year (2016) we found dozens of pieces of textile dating from the 10th century BC, ranging from simple pieces of bag to luxurious, refined garments, surprising for the time.».

Image opposite: a rope made from the fiber of a date palm found at the Timna site © Clara Amit / Israel Antiquities Authority.

According to the Bible, the Timnah copper mines were operated by Edomites (Deuteronomy 8,9) under the control of Jerusalem [...]. Scholars believe that a military garrison from Jerusalem must have been stationed in the area, with the role of supervising copper mining, defending the site and collecting taxes from the Edomites.

Sheep's wool, goat's hair and linen

Copper was of great importance in the Levant in the 10th century B.C. It was used to make both agricultural tools and weapons. Its importance was comparable to that of oil today. We have enough archaeological evidence to establish that the people who lived and worked in the mining region were not mere slaves, but an elite that included experts in metallurgy, civil and military leaders who directed this complex and demanding work. In the past, the population of this region was thought to be made up of simple nomads. Today, however, we have evidence of a hierarchical, sedentary society, in line with the account given in biblical and extra-biblical texts.

Image opposite: two colors for dyeing fabrics: red and blue. The red dye came from a plant called madder, while the blue came from a plant known as dyer's woad. Clara Amit/Israel Antiquities Authority.

The fabrics found at the site were woven from three types of yarn: sheep's wool, goat's hair and linen. These, of course, were not produced locally in Timna, as sheep and goats certainly didn't graze there, which means that all these materials were imported to the mines, as was the case for other organic elements unearthed on site, such as fish bones.

Image opposite: an undyed woollen fabric found at the Timna site. This type of fabric is dated to the Iron Age. © Clara Amit / Israel Antiquities Authority.

In addition to the pieces of clothing, other fabrics from bags and saddles were also discovered at the site. All these pieces have been transferred to the archaeological laboratory at Bar Ilan University.

Surprising quality for its time

«We found textiles of two different qualities,» explains master's student Vanessa Workman. «On the one hand, raw fabrics, usually made of goat's hair, and on the other, wool-dyed fabrics featuring fine decorative stripes. Dr. Naama Sukenik, our research partner at the Antiquities Authority, who carried out analyses of these colors in the laboratories of Bar-Ilan University, asserted that this is the oldest example in Israel of vegetable dyeing. Let's not forget that Timna was an industrial mining site in the middle of the desert. Finding woollen fabrics dyed in various shades of red and blue is further proof of the wealth introduced by this industry and the prestige of copper at the time».

Image opposite: a view of the Arava Valley, a vast expanse of ochre, orange and copper-colored desert. Located some 30 km north of the Gulf of Eilat. timna-park.co.il.

«When Dr. Orit Shamir, a researcher at the Israel Antiquities Authority, first saw these textiles,» reports Dr. Ben-Josef, «she emphasized their astonishing similarity to Roman fabrics because of the surprisingly high quality of weaving and dyeing for the time. From the context, we assume that these garments were worn by the smiths themselves as they worked on smelting copper in the furnaces. The great technical knowledge required for this activity, and the element of religious ritual that was undoubtedly part of the process of transforming stone into metal, gave blacksmiths a special status in the ancient society in which they lived».

Image opposite: a view of the Arava valley and its surprising rock formations: arches, «geological mushrooms», King Solomon sandstone columns, etc. © timna-park.co.il.

These rare pieces of fabric join an exceptional collection of well-preserved organic objects recently discovered at Timna by Prof. Ben-Yosef's archaeological mission, including pieces of tanned leather, ropes, braids, cereal seeds and fruits of the «seven species» of the land of Israel named in the Torah: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and honey. «The rare preservation of organic matter at Timna opens a window onto a new world, previously totally absent from sites from the biblical period. It opens up new avenues of research, such as the study of ancient DNA or the reconstruction of the process of animal domestication».

Image opposite: a view of the Arava valley and its surprising rock formations: arches, «geological mushrooms», «King Solomon» sandstone columns, etc. © timna-park.co.il.

Prof. Ben-Yosef points out that «this is the closest we have to an example of how people dressed in the time of David and Solomon». «We can assume that this society in the Arava Valley in the 10th century B.C. wove and dressed in the same way as in Jerusalem. If the region was indeed dependent on the capital as mentioned in the biblical account, it's quite likely that the fabrics themselves came from there. These are the only textiles from this period to have been discovered in the southern Levant. No fabric samples have ever been found even in Jerusalem [...]».