Organization of Flint Sickle Blade Production at an Early Bronze Age Workshop in Anatolia
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Organization of Flint Sickle Blade Production at an Early Bronze Age Workshop in Anatolia Britt E. Hartenberger Department of Archaeology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT A specialized workshop for the manufacture of flint sickle blades has recently been excavated at the site of Titris Hoyuk in southeastern Anatolia [1]. This paper will examine the sequence of production for the blades as well as the social context of this craft within the site. The workshop is the first example found containing evidence of the complete sequence of production for the ‘Canaanean blade,’ a type commonly used across the Near East in this period [2]. Since bronze was still new and relatively expensive, high-quality flint was used to manufacture sickle blades. Tabular flint was imported in the form of large slabs from several sources in the nearby hills. Specialists then prepared the blade cores, removed the blades, and then traded the final products to local farmers. A range of manufacturing debris has been found to illustrate the production sequence, including chunks of raw flint, core-shaping pieces, debitage pits, and stacks of exhausted and used cores. The large sample of over 1000 blade cores collected ensures a sizable data set for statistical analyses. Several types of raw flint were utilized for making the blades and production appears to vary slightly by these material types. The workshop is located within a household setting and is the only area within the excavated site containing debris from this craft. Spatial analyses of the types of flint used within the household workshop reveal its division into largely distinct areas for domestic versus specialist craft activities. The placement of the workshop in the suburbs far from the site’s administrative center may indicate that its activities were independent of any elite. An estimate of the volume of blades produced combined with the location of the workshop at a major regional center suggest that it also supplied blades to other sites in the region. INTRODUCTION The blade workshop is the first of its kind uncovered in the Near East and provides valuable evidence for lithic craft specialization, the organization of lithic production and a domestic context for Canaanean blade production in Anatolia. Before this discovery of a complete workshop context, the sequence of production for these blades had only been identified very generally. Though Canaanean blades are found throughout the Levant, blade cores are rare, but have been found in small numbers at sites such as Hassek Höyük [3] and Haçinebi in Turkey, and Har Haruvim [4] and Tel Halif in Israel. The large amount of production debris and blade cores available from Titris provide a wealth of new information on the technological and spatial organization of production for this industry. Excavation was undertaken at the site for eight years as a joint project between University of California at San Diego, the Sanliurfa Archaeological Museum, and the University of Akron, headed by Guillermo Algaze and Timoth
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