Mea culpa
Revisiting the zooarchaeological perspective on the origins of metal use for quotidian activities at Jericho (Tel es-Sultan)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21263706 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Haskel J Greenfield (0000-0001-6703-932X, Saint Paul College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 5 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-26 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2813-432X • E-ISSN: 2813-432X |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3389/fearc.2026.1798637 |
| OpenAlex | W7165917047 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 78 |
The advent of hard tin-bronze metallurgy significantly changed the way in which metals are used during the Bronze Age from primarily display/prestige to quotidian/utilitarian technologies. Yet, it is difficult to quantify the rate and nature of change. Most researchers studying early metallurgy primarily confine themselves to the study of either the few preserved metal objects and/or the decline of stone tools. However, relatively few metal tools have survived in the archaeological record, while stone tools continue to be used even into late antiquity. Thus, they are both biased measures to some extent. Through experimental research, it has been demonstrated that the transition from a chipped stone to metal based technology at sites and across regions can be determined through microscopic analysis of butchering slice marks. This method allows for a quantitative assessment of the nature and rate of adoption of the new technology. In this paper, the butchering mark data on animal bones from Kenyon's excavations at Jericho (Tel es-Sultan) are reanalysed. The author initially analysed the butchering data more than 25 years ago when the method was in its infancy. Reanalysis of the data with improved technology (Scanning Electron Microscopy/SEM) and better periodisation of deposits demonstrates that the earlier analysis was incorrect and should not be cited. The reanalysed evidence from Jericho demonstrates that there is no support for the use of metal tools for butchering animals during the Early Bronze I-III or the Intermediate Bronze periods. Only in the Middle Bronze II is there significant evidence for butchering by metal tools. These results align the Jericho sequence with other nearby sites and demonstrate that the technology of the Early Bronze represented in large part continuity with the preceding periods
Bronze · Bronze Age · Excavation · Experimental archaeology · Perspective (graphical) · Ancient Near East History · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis
Radiocarbon chronology of the EB I–II and II–III transitions at Tel Bet Yerah, and its implications for the nature of social change in the southern Levant
The Primary Food Animals of the Jericho Tell From the Proto-Neolithic to the Byzantine Period
The Archaeology of the Bronze Age Levant
Applications of Scanning Electron Microscopy to Taphonomic Problems
Cutmarks made by stone tools on bones from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
A new approach to raw material use in the exploitation of animal carcasses at BK (Upper Bed II , Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania)
Vertebrate Taphonomy
Weapons, Warrior Burials and Agency in the Intermediate Bronze Age Southern Levant
Test Excavations at Rogem Be'erotayim in Western Negev
Butchering technology and metal adoption in the Bronze Age southern Levant
Macroscopic Chop Mark Identification on Archaeological Bone
The characteristics and significance of prestige goods during the Early Bronze Age period of the southern Levant
The Chalcolithic Period of the Southern Levant
Identifying the stone toolkit of Copper Age and Bronze Age metallurgists
Burnt bones and teeth
The Origins of Metallurgy
The sheep of early jericho
Distinguishing between apples and oranges
The Fall of the House of Flint”
Special Studies
The Emergence and Transmission of Metallurgical Technology for Subsistence Activities in Daily Life in Northern Europe
The Mammalian Remains from the Jericho Tell
Early Bronze Age Levantine Metal Weapons from the Collection of the Palestine Exploration Fund
Insufficient evidence for metal butchering marks at Tell el-Hesi during the Early Bronze Age
Cut marks and raw material exploitation in the lower pleistocene site of Bell's Korongo (BK, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania)
Filling the gap
Cut marks made with quartz tools
Testing the influence of stone tool type on microscopic morphology of cut-marks
Observations on the history of zooarchaeological quantitative units
Sorting the butchered from the boiled
Surface modification on bone
Experiments in Taphonomy
Bone surface modifications in zooarchaeology
Atlas of Taphonomic Identifications
Use and abuse of cut mark analyses
Slicing Cut Marks on Animal Bones
Chronology of Iba Shaft Tombs in the Southern Levant
Early Bronze Age Chronology
Chronology of the Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant
Bridging the Gap Ebiii-Iba
Middle Bronze Age Jerusalem
Jericho and the Chronology of Palestine in the Early Bronze Age
New virtual approach to the study of metallurgy through the analysis of slice marks from the Chalcolithic site of Zanjillas (Torrejón de Velasco, Madrid, Spain)
Cumulative effect of high‐resolution silicone moulds on the morphology of cut marks
Flint and Quartzite
A replication technique for scanning electron microscopy
From Land's End to the Levant
Is the StW 53 cranium (Sterkfontein, South Africa) the earliest evidence of tool-assisted hominin modification? New data from a neotaphonomic experiment and the virtual reconstruction of its linear marks
The Organisation of Early Bronze Age Metalworking in the Southern Levant
More than meets the eye
Micro-photogrammetric and morphometric differentiation of cut marks on bones using metal knives, quartzite, and flint flakes
Prehistoric metalworking in the southern Levant
Early Bronze Age Tin and the Taurus
Sources of Tin and the Beginnings of Bronze Metallurgy
Retention of old technologies following the end of the Neolithic
The change in metal production from the Chalcolithic period to the Early Bronze Age in Israel and Jordan
Nisp vs. MNI in Quantification of Body-Part Representation
Observations on the Butchering Technique of some Aboriginal Peoples Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 6
Observations on the Butchering Technique of Some Aboriginal Peoples No. 2
Observations on the Butchering Technics of Some Aboriginal Peoples Numbers 7, 8, and 9
Observations on the Butchering Technique of Some Aboriginal Peoples
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |