The Mudaybi’ point
Where was the Mudaybi’ point found?
Square I-3
Excavators in Field A, which is along the exterior wall to the north of the site, recovered the point in Square I3 in 1999. The excavators found the point in a clean Iron II locus. A clean locus means that all the pottery associated with that soil layer dated to one period. Nothing in the locus dated prior to or after the Iron II period. This makes the Mudaybi’ point significant since it can be firmly dated by the archaeologists to the Iron II period. Military objects like the trilobate point would be expected at a fortress site like Mudaybi’.
How is the Mudaybi’ point useful to archaeologists?
By comparing the point found at Mudaybi’ to other objects found in Syria-Palestine, archaeologists can determine if this find is unusual or unique to Jordan. Archaeologists examine other excavations' field reports that list and picture objects found on digs and compare them to objects found on their own digs. By doing this, archaeologists can determine if their objects parallel objects from other sites. In some cases it can also help archaeologists date their own finds by comparing their object to other similar objects that have been firmly dated at other sites.
Leaf shaped iron point found at Mudaybi’
Sling stone measured in centimeters
What other sites have points like the point found at Mudaybi’?
Parallels for the point come from east and west of the Jordan River. In Jordan excavators found similar trilobate points at 'Umayri, a site just south of Amman in Ammonite territory. Ammonites, along with the Moabites, were all groups of people living east of the Jordan River mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The points discovered at 'Umayri came from various locations on the site. A point found in Field A, designated the Ammonite Citadel, came from a mixed locus with pottery ranging from the Iron I period up to the Persian period. A second point from Field F came out of a Late Iron II phase. Another point out of Field F came from a mixed locus with pottery ranging in date from the Late Bronze up to the Byzantine period. The trilobate points from both Mudaybi’ and Umayri are made of bronze. Examples from ancient Israel came from Samaria, which was the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Other trilobate points came from Tell el-Ajjul, Tell Fara, and Jerusalem. The Samaria trilobate points dated to the 7th century B.C.E. The one found in Jerusalem dated to the 6th century Babylonian siege of the city in the same context as leaf shaped points like those also found at Mudaybi’.
What can archaeologists learn from these comparisons?
As noted above, this type of trilobate point is called a Scythian or Irano-Scythian point, but is it appropriate for archaeologists to tie an artifact to an ethnic group? Would the presence of these points indicate that Scythians were at a site? The Mudaybi’ point can shed light on these two questions. Although it is possible that the Scythians first used this type of trilobate point, when they came into contact with groups like the Assyrians, these groups may have realized the value of the trilobate point and adopted it as part of their arsenal of weapons. Its usefulness against armor would have made it an appealing weapon. Through cultural contact, the use of this type of arrow could have spread throughout the Ancient Near East. Since archaeologists, like the ones working at Mudaybi’, have found examples of these points throughout modern Jordan and Israel, the explanation that people other than the Scythians also used this type of weapon appears likely. Therefore the presence of a point like this at a site does not mean Scythians were there.
Shaft end of the bronze point
Point of the trilobate point