Dynamics of Ivory Consumption and Exchange in the Late Bronze and Iron Age Southern Levant: A Contextual Investigation

During the Late Bronze and Iron Ages, highly valuable ivory was continuously consumed in the Southern Levant, part of a Near Eastern interregional exchange sphere of prestigious commodities. The exquisite artistry of several ivory artefacts, their elite find contexts and the exotic origins of the raw material resulted in a specific art-historical approach to reconstructing ivory exchange and the cultural meanings of ivory artefacts. This paper offers another perspective on these phenomena, looking holistically at the spatial, chronological, taxonomic, typological and contextual properties of a large, systematically constructed database of artefacts. We show that both use and meaning of ivory fluctuated chronologically. It served to broadcast the authority of socio-political elites, as well as, at times, the economic success of individuals. We evaluate the diachronically changing consumption trends in light of recent theories emphasising the role of individual agents in ancient economies and underscore the material’s cultural appropriation in the Southern Levant. We highlight the significant, previously underestimated, Nilotic (Egyptian and Nubian) agency in this exchange. Methodologically, we demonstrate that reconstructing complex economic and social interactions requires a detailed contextual approach.