Utilitarian objects in sacred spaces: Ground stone tools in Middle and Late Bronze Age temples in the southern Levant

Abstract

The goal of this dissertation is to identify and reconstruct activity areas in Middle and Late Bronze Age (ca. 2000-1200 BCE) temples and sanctuaries in the southern Levant by analyzing the ground stone artifacts found in them. Chapter 1 reviews the history of research of Middle and Late Bronze Age temples in Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan, and briefly describes the physical remains of the Canaanite cult and other activities associated with temples and sanctuaries. The history of ground stone tools from prehistory through the Iron Age is the focus of Chapter 2, which emphasizes the ritual character of certain stone tool types from the fifth-fourth millennium BCE in this region. Stone tools from temple complexes excavated at Hazor, Tel Nami, Megiddo, Tel Mevorakh, Tell Kittan, Bet Shean, Tell el-Hayyat, Deir 'Alla and Lachish are included in the typology and catalogue presented in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 provides an analysis of each temple complex and the reconstruction of some of the activities associated with the ground stone artifacts found in them. Evidence for the presentation of offerings, ritual disposal of cultic equipment, use of liquids, food and pigment processing and other activities is summarized in the conclusion in Chapter 5.