Flint tools in Iron Age burials of Tel Erani: Interpretations in the light of mortuary practices

Abstract

The current study focuses on large geometric flint sickle blades found in association with the deceased unearthed during the excavation of the Iron Age cemetery of Tel Erani. The archaeological meaning and interpretation of such a correlation are examined here through the prism of the system of burials and beliefs of Iron Age communities in the southern Levant and previous periods, where sickles and sickle blades were found in funerary contexts. Flint tools in the southern Levant may be divided into belonging to the deceased and used in life, and those serving as offerings to the dead by the community. The presence of sickles and flint sickle blades in burials of the southern Levant from the Chalcolithic period to the Iron Age may be interpreted as part of a ritual symbolizing a relationship between the deceased and agriculture. A concluding interpretation of these findings is presented here based on anthropological and archaeological parallels.