Project summary

Recent metallurgical analysis of Middle Bronze Age II (MB II; c.1900-1600 BCE) Levantine metal daggers has highlighted significant trends linking, for the first time, alloy composition with object typology, decoration, and possible uses. This project represents the first step in a wider analysis of MB metal weapons aimed at recognise technological choices, usage patterns, and cultural understandings of objects at a key juncture in Levantine prehistory.

Project details

Location: Israel

Year(s): 2019

Project director(s): Andrea Dolfini (Newcastle University)

Lead institutions and funding:

• CBRL

Project description

Recent metallurgical analysis of Middle Bronze Age II (MB II; c.1900-1600 BCE) Levantine metal daggers has highlighted significant trends linking, for the first time, alloy composition with object typology, decoration, and possible uses. The characterisation of 62 daggers from Rishon LeZion, an MB II cemetery in Israel, showed that most type A (mid-ribbed and decorated) daggers were made of high-tin bronze (i.e.
8-12% Sn-Cu alloy), whilst most type B (flat and undecorated) daggers were cast from various alloys, indicating probable recycling of scrap metal (Kan-Cipor-Meron et al. 2017). This suggests that the two types of dagger may have been produced by different workshops for unlike uses, e.g. tools and weapons.

This consideration invites: (a) scientific validation via the wear analysis of 10 Type A and 10 Type B daggers from Rishon LeZion; and (b) a broader collaborative project investigating MB II metal weapons, which would highlight technological choices, usage patterns, and cultural understandings of objects at a key juncture in Levantine prehistory.

The CBRL grant has funded a reconnaissance trip to the University of Haifa (Israel) to meet Professor Shalev and Dr Kan-Cipor-Meron, leading experts in early Levantine metallurgy; carry out preliminary wear analysis (by portable electronic microscope) on 20 daggers from Rishon LeZion; organise a day seminar/workshop on metalwork wear analysis for Haifa staff and research students; and discuss a joint Newcastle-Haifa funding application to take the project forward.

Project bibliography

Dolfini, Andrea. 2020. Investigating the function of Middle Bronze Age II Levantine weapons by wear analysis. Bulletin of the Council for British Research in the Levant 2018-2019, p 21.

Published:26 November 2021