During the renewed excavations at Tel Hazor, under the direction of Professor Amnon Ben-Tor, a magnificent public building was exposed in the center of the tell – the “ceremonial palace” of Hazor in the Late Bronze Age. Along with the other luxury items which characterize the building an assemblage of bronze weapons was discovered in the destruction layer of the building’s northwestern room. In this lecture I will present and discuss the significance of a number of items from the assemblage:


1. A “toy” sickle sword without a cutting edge, which simulates the real item on a scale of 2:3.
2. Armour scales (or a vest) that are also a model (from the standpoint of their size) and is not of functional significance.
3. An Egyptian axe (which based on the parallels should be ascribed to the XVIII Dynasty).


In my lecture I will discuss the possible significance of the interpretation of the weapons alone, and as an assemblage, and I will present the artifacts within the framework known to us in relation to the social and political conditions in Hazor specifically, and in Canaan in general, in the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries BCE.