Early bronze age textiles from the Ramon I rock shelter in the central Negev

Three linen textiles discovered in the Ramon I rock shelter, in the Makhtesh Ramon, date from c. 3000 BCE, the Early Bronze Age II, based on direct dating of the textiles and their excavation contexts. In addition to adding important and rare technological data on early textile manufacture, the contexts, in a rock shelter used for animal stabling, indicate long-distance trade in linen, penetrating into the pastoral societies of the Negev.