Manufacture and Use of Clay Sickles from the Uruk Mound, Abu Salabikh, Iraq.

Abstract

Although clay sickles are common at late Ubaid and early Uruk sites in southern Mesopotamia, they have received little concerted attention from archaeological researchers. This article surveys the literature of clay sickles and presents a technological, morphological and spatial study of 1,650 clay sickles from the Uruk Mound, Abu Salabikh, in southern Iraq. The study suggests that clay sickles were multipurpose tools that were used in activities related to agricultural and craft production. The report also discusses the conditions that may have led to their development and disappearance.