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Courtesy Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University
A sickle was one of two iron artifacts uncovered at Tel Masos, an Israelite settlement that existed from the end of the 13th century B.C. until about the end of the 10th century B.C. Bronze was the common metal during these centuries; iron was rarely used until the time of the Israelite monarchy (c. 1000 B.C.) when it became the dominant metal for tools and weapons.