Ilan Sztulman/Tel Miqne-Ekron Excavation Project

Iron knife found in the southern room in building 350. Bronze rivets fixed the slightly corroded iron blade to an elegant ivory handle; fashioned at the end of the handle was a round pommel, or knob, with a hole through it.

The iron knife, an iron ingot found on top of the bamah in the same room and three ivory handles belonging to other iron knives found elsewhere at Ekron—all dating to the 12th and 11th centuries B.C.E.—suggest that the Philistines played an important role in introducing ironworking technology to ancient Israel.