Mea culpa: revisiting the zooarchaeological perspective on the origins of metal use for quotidian activities at Jericho (Tel es-Sultan)

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.