Excavating the Beit She’an Valley in northeastern Israel, archaeologists have discovered evidence of a relatively advanced civilization dating to the era between 5200 and 4500 BCE—thousands of years before Moses or even Abraham. Amanda Borschel-Dan writes:
Alongside mounting evidence of organized large-scale agricultural production, a tiny 7,000-year-old blob of clay with geometric patterns—the earliest impressed sealing discovered in the region—is giving academics new insight into what may have been one of the earliest trade hubs and administration centers in the southern Levant. According to Hebrew University’s Yosef Garfinkel, the sealing was used on a grain-silo door or a commodities sack or vessel much in the manner of a hair placed on a doorjamb—to catch trespassers.
According to [the archaeologists, this] sealing is, “thus far, the earliest known sealing from the southern Levant dated prior to the 4th millennium BCE with an actual seal impression.”
According to Garfinkel, the site . . . is notable for its well-organized very early silos and immense storage capabilities. He said that they [had the capacity to hold] too much grain to have been constructed for a single family’s consumption prior to spoilage, and it was therefore a reasonable assumption that they were used in trade.
Read more on Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/7000-year-old-seal-impression-marks-prehistoric-site-as-early-trade-hub/