What were Bronze Age daggers used for? New analysis method has answers and 3 0f ten Videos from Prague and Raid of Modiin Antiquities Dealer Recovers 1000s of Looted Coins and Rings By David Israel and New Record Set in Jewish Visits to Temple MountBy Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency
Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement.
The Three are Rabbi Yehuda Glick, famous temple mount activist, and former Israel Mk, and then Robert Weinger, the world's greatest shofar blower and seller of Shofars, and myself after we had gone to the 12 gates of the Temple Mount in 2020 to blow the shofar to ask G-d to heal the world from the Pandemic. It was a highlight to my experience in living in Israel and I put it on my blog each day to remember.
The articles that I include each day are those that I find interesting, so I feel you will find them interesting as well. I don't always agree with all the points of each article but found them interesting or important to share with you, my readers, and friends. It is cathartic for me to share my thoughts and frustrations with you about life in general and in Israel. As a Rabbi, I try to teach and share the Torah of the G-d of Israel as a modern Orthodox Rabbi. I never intend to offend anyone but sometimes people are offended and I apologize in advance for any mistakes. The most important psychological principle I have learned is that once someone's mind is made up, they don't want to be bothered with the facts, so, like Rabbi Akiva, I drip water (Torah is compared to water) on their made-up minds and hope that some of what I have share sinks in. Love Rabbi Yehuda Lave.
Raid of Modiin Antiquities Dealer Recovers 1000s of Looted Coins and Rings By David Israel
Photo Credit: Yoli Schwartz / Israel Antiquities Authority
These ancient Roman period coins confiscated at the home of a trader in Modiin.
Some 1,800 ancient coins, pieces of jewelry and seals, clay cuneiform tablets, and an ancient bronze figurine, were seized on Sunday from the home of a Modiin dealer in illegal antiquities. Some of the recovered coins are scientifically significant and of great value. They include ancient silver coins from the Persian Period, coins from the time of the Hasmoneans and the Great Revolt of 66–73 CE, including a sheqel coin from that era, and coins that bear the name "Shimon" of the leader of the 132 CE Bar Kochva rebellion.
The 'Simon' coin from the days of the Bar Kochva Rebellion was confiscated at the home of a trader in Modiin. / Yoli Schwartz / Israel Antiquities Authority
The recovered treasure also includes silver coins from the Hellenistic Period, bronze coins from the Roman Period, and Jewish coins from the time of the Second Temple.
An extraordinary silver sheqel from the days of the Great Revolt was discovered in the suspect's workroom. On one side appears the inscription: "Holy Jerusalem" decorated with a cluster of three pomegranates; the other side features the inscription "Sheqel of Israel Year 2" above a goblet decoration. The looted coin was in the process of being polished.
Some of the coins that were confiscated at the home of a trader in Modiin, with an ancient silver sheqel at the center. / Yoli Schwartz / Israel Antiquities Authority
The raid by the inspectors of the Israel Antiquities Authority Robbery Prevention Unit with assistance from the Modiin Police was carried out with a court order based on suspicion that the dealer was involved in trading in antiquities without a license.
The IAA inspectors identified fresh soil on some of the coins and other objects, suggesting they had recently been removed from illegal excavations in sites throughout the country.
A figurine of the god Hermes was confiscated from a Modiin antiquities trader. / Yoli Schwartz / Israel Antiquities Authority
"It is heartbreaking to think about the numerous antiquity sites which were destroyed for monetary gain by merchants who sell out our heritage", said Ilan Haddad, the IAA Inspector of Trading in Antiquities. "We are talking about our collective history, and it will be impossible to reconstruct."
In another room, the inspectors discovered dozens of coins in mailing envelopes addressed to recipients, ready for shipping abroad.
A sheqel coin confiscated from a Modiin antiquities trader and its reflection. / Yoli Schwartz / Israel Antiquities Authority
According to Haddad, "the operation by the IAA Robbery Prevention Unit and the Modiin police thwarted the smuggling of ancient objects from Israel to foreign markets. we suspect that the man dealt in antiquities without a license for an extended period. The suspect covered his tracks, and we suspect that he smuggled thousands of coins out of the country. The suspect has been dealing in antiquities for many years and is knowledgeable about the law, but knowingly chose to break it."
Ancient rings confiscated from a Modiin antiquities trader. / Yoli Schwartz / Israel Antiquities Authority
During his interrogation, the suspect admitted to illegal dealings in smuggling hundreds of coins out of the country and purchasing coins from robbers and illegal merchants in Judea and Samaria in violation of the law.
According to Eli Askozido, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, "the inspectors of the IAA struggle day and night with the looting and illegal trading of antiquities. The ancient finds belong to the state and the public. A unique story about the history and heritage of the country can be learned from every coin. Unlicensed traders who acquire coins from robbers and thieves encourage the looting of ancient treasures that are torn away from their historical context. The IAA will continue its cooperation with law enforcement agencies to thwart the illegal antiquities trade."
Upon completion of the Antiquities Robbery Prevention Unit's report, the Modiin resident is expected to be indicted.
3 0f ten Videos from Prague
What were Bronze Age daggers used for? New analysis method has answer
Long thought by many to have been used as a symbol of male identity and power, turns out they were used for something more mundane.
New analysis method used for the first time on copper-alloy metal helped determine the use of Bronze Age daggers.(photo credit: Courtesy Newcastle University)Advertisement
Used widely throughout Europe during the Bronze Age including in Britain and Ireland, the functional use of copper-alloy daggers has long been debated by researchers but there was no scientific methods to analyze the metal.
Now an international research team led by Newcastle University says they have solved the riddle by applying a pioneering analysis method. In their report published in Scientific Reports, the researchers said they used a special staining solution to enable the world's first extraction of organic residues from 10 copper-alloy daggers excavated in 2017 from Pragatto, a Bronze Age settlement site in Italy. The study included daggers with a broad range of blade shapes—including leaf-shaped and triangular blades, lengths and methods of attachment to the handles, known as hafting. Chronologically they span the period from 1550 to 1250 BCE.
Copper-alloy daggers first appeared in the early 4th millennium BCE, but unlike with artifacts made from other materials such as ceramic, stone and shell, there has not been a targeted method of analysis for copper-alloy metals and so the lack of scientific data left the daggers' use an unsolved mystery.
Traditionally they have been viewed as ceremonial symbols of male identity and power because many daggers were found in warrior burials, but others have maintained that the daggers had multiple uses both as tools, perhaps for the ritual slaughter of animals, and as weapons.
According to the researchers, their new analysis method revealed scientifically for the first time how these objects were used, for what tasks, and on what materials, and it seems to have been for the mundane tasks of slaughtering, butchering and carving of animal livestock for meat.
Antique swords from ancient Israel. (credit: REUTERS)
They noted that daggers first appeared near-simultaneously in eastern/central Europe, the Alps, and the Italian peninsula in the early 4th millennium BCE, and were initially made from either flint or copper. By the early 2nd millennium BCE daggers were being made, used, and widely exchanged from Crete in the south to Scandinavia in the north, and from the Russian steppes in the east to Ireland in the west.
"After this cross-material floruit, flint and metal daggers parted ways, with the former all but disappearing from the archaeological record and the latter continuing to be made and used throughout the Bronze Age," they wrote.
Led by Dr. Andrea Dolfini, chair of Archaeology at Newcastle University, and Isabella Caricola, of the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Newcastle University, the project team developed a technique using a Picro-Sirius Red (PSR) solution, which is used to stain muscle and collagen fibers. Collagen is a fiber-like protein in the body that is used to make connective tissue.
The residues highlighted by the solution were then observed under optical, digital and scanning electron microscopes, which allowed the team to identify micro-residues of collagen and associated bone, muscle and bundle tendon fibers.
The researchers believe these findings suggest the daggers had indeed come into contact with multiple animal tissues and were used to process a variety of animal carcasses. The daggers seem to have been used for the slaughtering of livestock, butchering carcasses and carving the meat from the bone, the researchers concluded.
In addition, the researchers had an expert bronze smith create exact replicas of the metal daggers, and carried out a wide set of experiments with them to help determine what they could have been used for, and also extracted biological residues from the experimental daggers. These were also analyzed and compared to the results from the archaeological daggers. The researchers determined that these types of daggers were well suited to the processing of animal carcasses.
"(This) is also in line with Pragatto being a settlement site where animal husbandry was extensively practiced… and our own experiments, which documented how effective these tools can be in detaching soft tissue from the bone," they noted in their research.
But more important than just determining the use of the specific daggers they studied, the researchers say their results have proven the accuracy of their new process of analysis which can now be used for the analysis of other copper-alloy tools and weapons.
"The research has revealed that it is possible to extract and characterize organic residues from ancient metals, extending the range of materials that can be analyzed in this way," noted Dolfini, in a Newcastle University press release. "This is a significant breakthrough as the new method enables the analysis of a wide variety of copper-alloy tools and weapons from anywhere in the world. The possibilities are endless, and so are the answers that the new method can and will provide in the future."
Jewish worshippers ascend to the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem on the eve of the Simchat Torah Jewish Holiday. Jerusalem, Sep 27, 2021.
A historic record was set on the Temple Mount on Thursday with 29,215 Jewish to the Temple Mount since the beginning of the year, the highest annual number yet. This largest number for one year since the liberation of the Temple Mount in the Six-Day War in 1967, and probably also since the destruction of the Temple.
The previous record was recorded in 2019, before the outbreak Corona pandemic, which was also a leap year and included another Jewish month. In 2019, 29,119 Jews visited the Temple Mount throughout the year.
The Temple Mount Administration noted with satisfaction that the new record was set while we are still in the middle of the year. More than four months still remain for the year, including the two peak days of the year, Jerusalem Day and Tisha B'Av.
Assaf Fried, of the Temple Mount Administration, said the dramatic leap in visits to the Temple Mount is due to "the positive change that has taken place in the police service."
"As more and more Jews become acquainted with the new situation on the Temple Mount, especially by word of mouth, they return home. What has not been expressed in the field in the two years of the corona, is suddenly gaining dramatic expression in the past year," he said.
Fried also noted another record figure recorded this week on the Temple Mount. Data from the Yera'e Institute, which follows the Jews' visits to the Temple Mount, show that since the Temple Mount was reopened after the Operation Guardian of the Walls in May a year ago, more than 40,000 Jews have ascended the Temple Mount within 12 months.
The Temple Mount Administration is now preparing for the thousands who will visit the Temple Mount on Jerusalem Day. Assuming that the number of visitors jumps to new heights again, on the day that marks the 55th anniversary of the release of the Temple Mount.
These historic numbers were recorded despite the fact that Jews' visits to the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site, are limited in time, space, as well as the number of visitors at any given time. While Jews' rights to worship at the site have improved in recent years, much remains wanting, and the full freedom of worship has yet to be granted by the State of Israel to Jews visiting the Temple Mount.
While Muslims enter the holy site freely, Jews are screened by metal detectors, undergo security searches, and are banned from bringing Jewish religious objects to the site.
