Uninscribed Late Bronze and Early Iron Age stone weights Dor, Israel

Abstract

Among hundreds of ground stones, four, exceptional, modified stone artefacts were uncovered in four phases during the excavations in Area G at Tel Dor. Three of the four stone items are defined here as uninscribed weights and one as a possible weight. One is dated to the Late Bronze Age and three to the early Iron Age. These are the only scale weights revealed during the extensive excavations at Tel Dor (apart from one Judaean weight of one sheqel). This paper presents the reasons for their classification as weights even though they were found singly, and not as a set with the associated standards. These artefacts are compared with other stone items from Tel Dor that have previously been suggested as weights, but lack the necessary criteria for significance. The context of the weights is also described, and related to the reconstructed lifestyle of Iron Age Area G in the Phoenician city of Dor. An Early Iron Age, recently published, weight from ʿEn Gev is added to enlarge the collection.

Keywords:

• uninscribed weights
• Late Bronze
• Early Iron Age
• Tel Dor
• ʿEn Gev
• Phoenician
• sheqel
• Egyptian qedet and deben

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Ayelet Gilboa, Ilan Sharon and Jeffrey Zorn, directors of the Tel Dor excavations, for allowing me to work on the stone tool assemblage of Area G and publish this part of the results. Thanks to David Sugimoto, the director of Tel ʿEn Gev Keio Archaeological Mission, 2009–2011, for the figure of the stone weight. Thanks to the late Ilan Sharon for providing harsh but constructive criticism after reading the first draft, and thanks to Lorenz Rahmstorf for helpful advice. Thanks to Orna Hillman, who previously worked on the Area G stone assemblage. Special thanks go to the late Tad Jarrold, who photographed Figs 1, 2 and 5, to David Doron who photographed Fig. 3 and to Prof. Micha Klein, of the University of Haifa, and Shimon Ilany, of the Israel Geological Institute, who identified the unfamiliar raw materials. I am solely responsible for the data presentation, conclusions, and any errors in this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Several other pebbles are made from unusual types of stone: an obsidian sea pebble (B181887), a barite half-dome pebble (B182010), an apatite phosphate pebble (B98197), two flint pebbles — one of them dome-shaped (B182062/1, B180563) and a bituminous limestone unfinished whorl (B180497; Fig. 2:2, 3, 9, 5–6 respectively). They are smooth and round, with a straightened base but without polishing marks, indicating that they were not shaped by hand, but rather smoothed by sea or river water.