Hoes
Limestone
1500 BC

To make the holes in the ground for sowing seed, the first farmers used simple digging sticks with pointed ends that had been hardened by fire. In later periods, farmers were able to break up the soil more thoroughly with hoes like these, attached to wooden handles. It is also possible that pieces like these were used as plowshares in a primitive kind of plow pulled by an ox (domesticated by 7000 BC). Plowing is attested as early as around 4000 BC and perhaps even 5000 BC, on the basis of bone deformations displayed by certain cattle skeletons.

Tell Mishrifeh, ancient Qatna 25.5 x 19.5 cm/26 x 19.5 cm
Homs Museum + 922 923 (Mishrifeh 383 + 380)

_{© Musée de la civilisation, 1999}