The ancient slingstones are the earliest evidence of warfare in the region
Photo: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority
In an example of yet another sensational as well as historic discovery made by archaeologists in Israel, the Israel Antiquities Authority released findings that show that as long ago as 7,200 years – that would be around 5,200 BC – there was already a “large-scale” and “systematic” production of war weapons in the country.
The people of the Land of Canaan must have either been in a state of constant war, or, like modern Israel, they were proficient at making weapons and selling them to surrounding peoples.
King David conquered Jerusalem and made it his capital about 3,000 years ago. If we follow the Bible’s timeline, Abraham first settled in the Land of Israel almost 2,000 years before that. So, this would mean that the ancient weapons uncovered pre-dated Abraham by at least 2,000 years.
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The Bible does explain how the people in the Land of Canaan were warlike before Abraham even got there. But war must have been their way of life if the new evidence of weapons production is any indication of how those people lived.
Research from IAA showed that in the area that is now modern Israel, there was what it described as a “mass production” of weapons back then.
The research, undertaken by Dr. Gil Haklay, Enno Bron, Dr. Dina Shalem, Dr. Ianir Milevski and Nimrod Getzov of the Israel Antiquities Authority, examined 424 slingstones from the Early Chalcolithic period (c. 5800–4500 BCE) that were uncovered at two large archaeological sites excavated by the Israel Antiquities Authority: at ‘En Esur in the northern Sharon plain, and at ‘En Zippori in the Lower Galilee.
An ancient building at ‘En Esur in which slingstones were found
Photo: Assaf Peretz, Israel Antiquities Authority.
The research revealed that the hundreds of slingstones were almost identical. They were mostly manufactured from hard limestone/dolomite, and they were almost all uniform in size, with an average length of 52 mm, a width of about 321 mm, and an average weight of 60 g.
“The stones, that were intended to be projected from a sling, are smoothed, with a specific biconical aerodynamic form, enabling exact and effective projection,” say the archaeologists. “Similar slingstones have been found at other sites in the country, mainly from the Hula Valley and the Galilee in the north to the northern Sharon, but this is the first time that they have been found in excavations in such large concentrations.”
“These stones are in fact, the earliest evidence of warfare in the Southern Levant. The similarity of the slingstones points to large-scale industrial production. The effort put into the aerodynamic form and the smoothing of the stones’ surface indicate that they were intended to be exact and deadly weapons,” the researchers say.
The large quantity of slingstones, and the effort put into producing them point to organized preparation for battle, and it may have been a community effort to produce ammunition. If so, it seems that in the Early Chalcolithic period, there was an escalation in preparations for warfare, involving a change from individual to large-scale production, employing many people.
The large concentration of slingstones provides evidence for the more intensive preparations for warfare in the Early Chalcolithic period in our region, possibly between local powers.
