Reflections on the Circulation of Extraordinary Items in Early Chalcolithic Southwest Asia: Sourcing the Obsidian Mirror and Giant Blade Core of Kabri (Israel)

The 6th-millennium b.c. obsidian mirror and giant blade core from Kabri, northern Israel, have long been considered epitomes of Southwest Asian Early Chalcolithic technical and artistic virtuosity. Nevertheless, even almost 70 years after their discovery, they are yet to be integrated into the growing body of research on obsidian circulation from Anatolian sources to prehistoric communities of the southern Levant. This paper presents for the first time the results of a provenience study employing handheld X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (hhXRF), showing that the obsidian used to fashion the mirror derives from East Göllü Dağ, central Anatolia, while the raw material used to make the giant blade core originates from the Bingöl B source in eastern Anatolia. Drawing on these results, it is suggested that the research of the obsidian trade and Early Chalcolithic social networks implicated in it can benefit from a more multifaceted distinction between sources, technologies, and end-products. Situating this work within the recent turn to more holistic characterization studies, alongside employing the theoretical lens of Joan Gero (1989), the authors argue that the mirror and blade core represent “extraordinary objects,” well-suited for the mediation of social relations in the context of emergent political and economic complexity.