A large number of broken limestone maceheads found at Early Bronze Tel Bet Yerah appears to be the result of intentional curation and fragmentation. Our analysis suggests that Early Bronze maceheads could function as weapons, but their efficiency and dependability were limited. Based on their properties, provenance, breakage pattern, and dating, we suggest that the maceheads symbolized the distribution of power in the community and resistance to centralized authority during Early Bronze II. Their accumulation and fragmentation would then represent a reversal of heterarchical tendencies and possibly an attempt to assert centralized power at the beginning of Early Bronze III.
Bibliographical noteFunding Information:
We would like to thank the Tel Bet Yerah Research and Excavation Project headed by R. Greenberg and S. Paz for sharing data and finds from the TBY excavations. We would also like to thank R. Greenberg for his remarks on final drafts of this article, and S. Salem and Y. Wiener for their help with the refitting of the macehead fragments. The research was done as a part of H. Ashkenazi's postdoc fellowship at the Laboratory of Ground Stone Tools Research, the Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa.
© 2022 University of Oxford.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)