レヴァント南部における青銅製袋穂鏃

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to reexamine the classification of bronze socketed arrowheads in the southern Levant proposed by the Israeli archaeologist E. Stern.Stern classified bronze socketed arrowheads found in Palestine into three types, namely, Types A, BI and BII. According to Stern, Type A is related to the Scythians of the 7th century B. C., and the latter two types are connected with troops of the Achaemenid dynasty.The author agrees with Stern in thinking that the arrowheads of the Seythians and the Achaemenids should be separated. However, his classification seems to be lacking in the following three points. Firstly, various types of arrowheads are treated all together as Type A. Secondly, Stern's Types BI and BII remain to be classified in detail. Thirdly, Stern did not refer to socketed arrowheads of non-Scythian/Achaemenid origin. Taking account of these three points, the author attempts to reexamine Stern's classification. The results are as follows.First, based on the chronological framework of Scythian arrowheads established by the Russian archaeologist A. I. Melyukova, the author classifies Stern's Type A into five types. Through comparison with arrowheads from Scythian graves and from other regions in Western Asia, the author concludes that each type appeared in the southern Levant at a different period or was brought in by a different caltural group.Second, to prepare for establishing the chronology of Achaemenid arrowheads, the author, adding some recently published examples, classifies Stern's Type BI into two sub-types, and BII into three, based on the shape of the blades, which range from broad to narrow. By analogy with the typology of Scythian arrowheads, the author supposes that there was a shift from broad to narrow in the blades of Achaemenid arrowheads.Last, the author examines two other types of socketed arrowheads. Through comparative analysis, the author concludes that one of these is connected with mercenaries of Saka in Central Asia, and the other is connected with the Eastern Mediterranean coast.