Phoenician Iron Smithing and Cult at Tel Akko, Israel

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Recent excavations (2010 - 2018) directed by A. E. Killebrew and M. Artzy at Tel Akko, a major eastern Mediterranean Phoenician maritime center and emporium, have uncovered an unprecedented quantity of iron smithing slags, hearths and cultic artifacts, all dating to the sixth - fourth centuries BCE. This assemblage includes fragments of figurines and masks, a standing stone, a possible animal sacrifice and a fifth-century-BCE Phoenician inscription, which alludes to dedications made by Akko's metal-working guild to an unspecified deity. These findings, interpreted in their coastal Levantine context, provide an unparalleled opportunity to explore the connection between iron production and cultic activities at late Iron and Persian period Akko. This poster presents the preliminary results of the chemical and mineralogical composition of Tel Akko's iron slags and the possible provenience of the iron ore; the spatial distribution of these smithing slags, hearths and iron objects in relation to associated cultic artifacts; and a reconstruction of the economic role of the iron industry at Akko, which during the sixth - fourth centuries BCE served as a major administrative and military center for the Achaemenid Empire.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26185