Three Types of Early Chalcolithic Prestige Stone Vessels from the southern Levant

Abstract. Three types of stone vessels from surveyed and excavated sites in Israel are presented and discussed: bowls with very small lug handles attached to the rim, bowls decorated with an incised row of lozenges on their exterior and chalices with a solid pedestaled base. The first two types are usually made of limestone, while the chalices are made of basalt. Each of the types was found in at least two sites and are associated only with Early Chalcolithic (ca. 5800-4500 BCE) remains, thus proposed to be characteristics of the period in central and northern Israel. Moreover, their high quality, relative scarcity and significance suggest they were prestige vessels.