Weapons, Warrior Burials and Agency in the Intermediate Bronze Age Southern Levant: Some Theoretical Observations

The Intermediate Bronze Age (c. 2500–2000 BCE) is known for its abundance of formal cemeteries and various other types of burial sites. These comprise a substantial number of internments that contain metal artifacts, identified as weaponry and associated with warfare, and typically defined ‘warrior burials.’ In this paper, we discuss some theoretical issues concerning the identification and role of the so-called weapons, the ideology of warriors and warriorhood, and the mutual agency of objects and society during the Intermediate Bronze Age. Reference is made to examples and research in Europe, where similar patterns have been extensively studied. Through this examination, weapons will be addressed as ‘agents’, allowing a more holistic discussion of the ‘network’ that produced and used them and a clearer image of ‘warrior burials’ and the reason for their gradual disappearance in the Middle Bronze Age.