Three- and Two-bladed Iron Arrow Heads

On loan from Professor Graeme Clarke AO FAHA, co-director of excavations at Jebel Khalid, Syria.

As Jebel Khalid was a military settlement or permanent garrison, many more weapons should have been found during the excavations. Yet only a modest quantity and range of military-related metal finds have been recovered from the site (c. 3% of metal finds). The weapons found were primarily iron arrowheads, spearheads, and catapult bolts.

No surviving inscriptions or texts refer specifically to the nature of the military personnel at Jebel Khalid. Hellenistic armies usually comprised a light infantry of archers, slingers, and javelineers, as well as a heavy infantry armed with spears, armour and shields. At Jebel Khalid, the Hellenistic period metal finds suggest a light infantry presence.  There is no evidence to suggest that any of the 30 watchtowers or the defensive walls ever came under attack and excavations at a nearby burial site revealed no evidence of pathology related to warfare. This may explain the paucity of military paraphernalia at the site. Military engagements may have been fought elsewhere, leaving little opportunity for weapons to be deposited in the archaeological record.

Most of the arrowheads can be dated from the second half of the second century and up to the early first century BC. One of the arrow heads, JK 05.390, based on stylistic features could be from the Roman period.

JK 00.327
Metal Inventory Number: M9
Found in Housing Insula, Area 51
Floor 1, phase B/B+ (Period 3-4) Datable finds: late second BC to early first century BC.
Length: 6cm; Head: 3.9cm; Width: 10cm.

Iron arrowhead, three bladed with a tang. Intact. Three pointed-star profile.

JK 05.390
Metal Inventory Number: M11
Found in topsoil in Area B, B28. Temple complex.
Roman parallels, perhaps mid-first century AD.
Length 6.1cm; Head: 3.1cm; Width: 1.5cm

Three-bladed iron arrowhead with a tang and barbs. Intact. It has a three-pointed-star profile. The blades are symmetric and uniform. Each blade face ends in a barb.
The barbed form is common in Roman assemblages from the mid-first century AD but not every Roman arrow was barbed. It is likely that this arrow is Roman as it was recovered from topsoil in the Temple complex.

JK 91.610
Metal Inventory Number: M41   
Area S, the commercial area, 363/3, CB6
Upper fill (Period 5). Datable finds: first quarter of the first century BC.
Measurements based on conserved dimensions. Length: 7cm; Head 3.4cm; Width: 1.4cm

Iron arrowhead, two-bladed, rhomboidal (?) profile. Intact. Lanceolate with mid-rib on the side and presumed thickened collar at the juncture of tang and head. Conserved in 1991, perhaps with hard setting putty and lacquer; original profile uncertain.

JK 91.544
Metal Inventory Number: M42   
Palace, Room 19
Floor. North-western corner of hearth perimeter, ash deposit (period 3-4). Mid second century AD- 1st century AD
Length: 5.3cm; Head 4.6cm; Width 1.8cm

Iron arrowhead, two-bladed, rhomboidal profile. Fragment has a lanceolate shape with mid-rib on both sides and nodule at juncture of head and tang on both sides. 

M. Mazis, Jebel Khalid on the Euphrates, vol. 7: The Metals, Mediterranean Archaeology Supplement (Sydney, forthcoming)