Counting tools from the EB I-III Southern Levant: New Evidences and Future Perspectives

The purpose of this poster is to illustrate the first results of an in-progress PhD project. The study focuses on the analysis of the appearance and use of counting tools, such as tokens, pierced shells and other minute objects in the Southern Levant during the Early Bronze Age. During this period, several flourishing centers developed in the Southern Levant, such as Tell es-Sultan / Jericho, Tell el-Mutesellim / Megiddo or Hazor, which controlled the surrounding territories and numerous trade routes. Such a development must necessarily require a central administration and management systems of community goods, although there are no written texts or archives. Except for the few quotations made by D. Schmandt-Besserat, most of the attestations of tokens come from excavations of contexts between the seventh and fourth millennium BC. Yet, tokens were recently identified in Beth Shean, pierced shells at Tell es-Sa'idiyeh and Tell es-Sultan / Jericho, while bullae were found at En-Besor and at Tell es-Safi / Gath. This leads us to think that counting tools can be attested in the Southern Levant from the Early Bronze Age.