The Nahal Qanah Cave: Earliest Gold in the Southern Levant

The detailed archaeological report of the physically and logistically difficult excavation of this remarkable cave on the western slopes of the Samaria hills which was used intermittently from the Neolithic until the Early Bronze Age I incorporates results of interdisciplinary studies on the pottery, metal, archaeobotanical, faunal, and human remains. Analysis of the burials for which the cave was used during the Chalcolithic period reveals new aspects of Ghassulian social and mortuary customs as well as an extensive trade network involving luxury objects and the most precious of all metals gold and electrum.