The Nahal Mishmar hoard (technological and cultural context)

The Nahal Mishmar Late Chalcolithic hoard from the Negev desert is wellknown as the richest complex of technologically and morphologically unique objects, un-valued for the characteristic of the early metal production in Palestine. The paper presentsa review of its technological and stylistic investigations within functional groups of metalartefacts (tools/weapons, standards, «crowns», vessels). The author points to some dis-crepancies in the chronology of the hoard, with the regard to some analogies of later datefrom Tepe Hissar, Susa, Ur. Absence of metal scrape does not allow consider it a founder''shoard. It also includes no personal ornaments, ingots, noble metals (unlike Nahal Qanah).The hoard represents a primary means of storing wealth, a treasure which belonged to a lo-cal community and was preserved in its central place, religious and administrative centre(probably shrine En Gedi). This situation is characteristic of the processes of accumula-tion, redistribution, and use of common wealth, and exchange organization best illustratedfor the Late Chalcolithic - EBA by Arslantepe VIA hoard.