Ancient Cotton Fibers Dating Back 7,000 Years Discovered In NE Israel

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - Ancient cotton fibers dating back 7,000 years, have been discovered by Israeli researchers, at the northern University of Haifa (UH during archaeological excavations at Tel Tsaf southeast of Beit She’an Valley close to the Jordanian border and north of the West Bank.

Tel Tsaf - is located in the Northern District of the northeast of the country of Israel.  Image creditr: Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting) and NordNordWest - Topographic background map: Own work Sources of data: SRTM30 Plus NASA SRTM3 - CC BY-SA 3.0

A prehistoric village Tel Tsaf existed in the distant past during the Chalcolithic period. The cotton fibers probably arrived at Tel Tsaf from the Indus Valley region that is present-day Pakistan, located  thousands of kilometers away.

Pakistan is considered asone of the first places where cotton was domesticated.

Tel Tsaf flourished during the transition period between the small agricultural societies and the large urban cities of the country, said Prof. Danny Rosenberg of the University of Haifa’s Zinman Institute of Archaeology, as cited by The Jerusalem Post.

Remnants of olives found at the dig at Tel Tsaf. Image credit: Courtesy of University of Haifa/Stanford University Research Team - via The Jerusalem Post

“Until today, we knew that the inhabitants of the site had trade relations with distant regions such as Egypt, Iraq and Anatolia, and now the circle of trade expands even further to the Indus Valley, where cotton was probably first domesticated. What is interesting about this early evidence of a connection with such a distant region is that it comes from fibers – microscopic pieces of ancient threads," informed Prof. Rosenberg.

"We assume that these cotton fibers, found together with wool fibers and plant fibers, arrived at the site as part of fabrics or clothing, that is, from ancient textiles,” he added.

Tel Tsaf's discovery provides the earliest evidence in the ancient Near East for the use of cotton fibers, according to scientists from the University of Haifa, Israel, Stanford University inUnited States States, and the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hannover, Germany. 

It is known that prior to this discovery, the earliest known evidence of cotton fibers used by humans comes from the ancient Near East, and was collected in eastern Jordan.

An interesting aspect of the cotton fibers' dfscovery is to find out as much as possible about location of organic findings, including microscopic and chemical tests. All these new methods can help with evidence of plants and identify whether it is a fiber that was woven on purpose and what the plant was from which it was woven.

“Part of the issue is that this type of evidence was almost never looked for in ancient sites, and many times they don’t even try to find this type of find,” explained Rosenberg, adding that “the main challenge, as in DNA research and organic materials research that we do at Tel Tsaf is to prevent modern contamination of the sample. In the case of fiber and textile research, the challenge is to neutralize the entry of modern fibers into the sample, since cotton fibers can be found in most clothing items today.”

Rosenberg also informed that the settlement prospered for approximately 500 years," and one of the great mysteries is why the settlement stopped at the site, without any signs of distress or lack of resources.

This interesting topic will be further researched in the future.

“We are still trying to understand why in such an important period of time in human history – when the small agricultural villages began to expand and grow, the social structure began to become complex in what would be the basis for the growth of the important state cities of the region and significant technological and culinary developments that it ceased to exist,” the research said.

Now researchers know that the local population had not only trade relations with Iraq, Egypt, and Anatolia region, but also reached places in the Indus Valley, thousands of kilometers away.

The eam's conclusion is that the cotton fibers, which were found together with wool and flax ones, were transported to the village as part of fabrics or clothes from ancient textiles.

Written by Conny Waters - AncientPages.com Staff Writer