Flint sickles from South Mesopotamia: A note on their unexplored potential for understanding 3rd Millennium BC people life

The study of the production, use, and repair of flint sickles from Abu Tbeirah provides new insights into the socio-economic and cultural structure of 3rd millennium BC Mesopotamian society. Although these tools were widely used by the site’s inhabitants, their manufacture was restricted to a specific workshop that acquired flint blades from specialized knappers, likely itinerants, through well-established exchange networks that operated independently of political control.