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Standard, early 4th millennium B.C.; Chalcolithic period
Levant, Nahal Mishmar
Copper alloy; L. 7 1/4 in. (18.5 cm)
Lent by Israel Antiquities Authority (L.1994.74.6)

Among the most numerous of objects in the Nahal Mishmar hoard are 118 tubular scepters or standards. Traces of wood or reed hafts were preserved on some standards and suggest they may have been carried on poles, perhaps in sacred processions. The objects are all similar in form but differ in size and decoration. This example has a flat, discoid rim, below which a globular bulge gives the object the appearance of a mace. Four knobs extend from the bulge. The circumference of the shaft is decorated with five pairs of incised lines; the uppermost and narrower lower bands are decorated with zigzag incisions.


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    Standard, early 4th millennium B.C.; Chalcolithic period
    Levant, Nahal Mishmar
    Copper alloy; L. 7 1/4 in. (18.5 cm)
    Lent by Israel Antiquities Authority (L.1994.74.6)