Archaeologists in Israel have discovered a 5,500-year-old flint-making workshop near Kiryat Gat in a salvage excavation in Naḥal Qomem, also known as Gat-Govrin or Zeita. The excavation was conducted before the construction of a new residential neighborhood, Carmei Gat, and was funded by the Israel Lands Authority. The excavation revealed an exceptional Early Bronze Age site with a sophisticated blade production facility—the first to have ever been found in southern Israel.

Excavation near Kiryat Gat uncovers 5,500-year-old flint blade-making workshop. Credit: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority

Among the most significant discoveries are finely crafted flint blades and large stone cores used to create them. These objects depict high-level manufacturing techniques and are being displayed here for the first time at the Jay and Jeanie ScH๏τtenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem.

This is the very first time that a specialized blade production workshop has been discovered in the south of the country, excavation directors Dr. Martin David Pasternak, Shira Lifsнιтz, and Dr. Nathan Ben-Ari of the IAA claim. Although Canaanite blades have been discovered before in Israel’s central and northern regions, sites with evidence of systematic production have been scarce. This discovery sheds light on the presence of a well-developed and socially organized society at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age.

A flint core from which the blades were produced about 5,500 years ago -a rare excavation find. Credit: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority

Prehistorians Dudu Biton and Dr. Jacob Vardi of the IAA described the high level of skill involved in creating the Canaanite blades found at the site. “It was an advanced industry which only exceptional individuals knew,” they explained. “This is clear evidence that already at the onset of the Bronze Age, the local society here was organized and complex, and had professional specialization.”

The flint finds from the ancient workshop. Credit: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority

The archaeological findings reveal that the site was a long-settled place for centuries, from the Chalcolithic period to the Early Bronze Age. The size of the area occupied by the settlement has now been found to be more extensive than previously considered—more than half a kilometer—and contains hundreds of underground pits. Some of them were lined with mud bricks and used for various purposes like storage, habitation, craftsmanship, and even ritual or social activities.

Among the most striking finds are large flint cores, which were professionally shaped to produce very sharp and uniform blades. They were utilized for a range of daily functions, such as cutting, butchering, and harvesting, functioning much like modern knives and sickle blades. The methods employed in their manufacture were highly advanced for their time, employing a technique that may have included a crane-like device to apply controlled pressure to the flint material.

Excavation near Kiryat Gat uncovers 5,500-year-old flint blade-making workshop. Credit: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority

During the Early Bronze Age, people used tools made from natural materials such as flint, stone, bone, and ceramics. The primary cutting instruments of the time were, however, Canaanite blades. According to Dr. Vardi, the sophistication of this industry lies not only in the tools but also in what was deliberately left behind. “Intriguingly, the waste fragments, the debitage, were not scattered outside the site, perhaps to better protect and preserve the professional knowledge within the group of experts.”

The site appears to have served as a primary manufacturing and distribution hub for these blades, which would have provided tools to the surrounding areas throughout the Levant.