177 The Ghassulian sickle blades workshop of Beit Eshel, Beer Sheva, Israel Isaac Gilead, Angela Davidzon and Jacob Vardi Abstract Understanding craſt specialization of the Ghassulian culture of the Southern Levant (fiſth millennium BC) is one of the major keys for a beer understanding of the social and economic organization of the Chalcolithic commu- nities. Copper artifacts are the best known products of Ghassulian craſtspeople and aract the most aention. While every copper artifact is a product of specialists, it is difficult to know whether flint tools were produced by craſt specialists. Raw flint is easily available and the products are found in every household, thus, tracing possible specialized production is complicated. The study is based on the recently unearthed Ghassulian flint sickle blades workshop of Beit Eshel in Beer Sheva. These are unique assemblages that weigh ca. 1500 kg, coming from limited surfaces of about 3.5x3.5 m. They include the entire range of flint processing products: flint pebbles, decortication pieces, blade cores, blades, snapped blades, retouched and sickle blades, as well as flint and limestone hammers and anvils. Aspects of copper-flint craſt specialization and ritual is discussed. The copper industry of the Ghassulian culture (mostly in the second half of the fiſth millennium BC) is the best known craſt specialization of the southern Levant Chalcolithic (e.g . Bar-Adon 1980). As such it aracts more aention than the other industries. While every copper artifact is a product of a craſtsperson, it is difficult to know whether flint tools were produced by craſt specialists. Since raw flint is common and easily available, the vast majority of the products are utilitarian, rather than prestigious, and since they are found in every household, tracing possible specialized production is complicated. There is lile evidence for craſt specialization in the Southern Levantine Late Neolithic period (till ca. 4,800-4,700, all dates are BC calibrated, unless otherwise mentioned). Gopher (Gopher 1995:220), for example, states that “We have no evidence for specialized industries beyond the household level ...” Others (Goren et al. 1993:37) suggest that craſt specialization in the Neolithic is “… rudimentary and by no means full-time activity”. In the Ghassulian culture (ca. 4,500-4,000/3,900) evidence of craſt specialization is more abundant. Although metallurgy is the hallmark of the Ghassulian craſt specialization, evidence for actual processing of copper comes from the Nahal Beer Sheva sites only (Gilead et al. 1992; Shalev & Northover 1987; Sugar 2000) and is most probably restricted to the time span of ca. 4,200-4,000 (Gilead 1994). According to Levy