Salut (US565)
Muscat, Office of the Adviser to HM the Sultan for Cultural Affairs
Bronze; L 18.8, W 10.8, Th 0.5/0.4
Iron Age: 1300-650 BC
 
This hoe was found broken and piled up together with a bent arrowhead, in all likelihood with the purpose of re-melting them to obtain new tools: a small furnace was in fact discovered near their location during one of the first campaigns at the site.
 
Three bronze hoes were discovered at Salut, which bear witness to the agricultural exploitation of the plain surrounding the site. Similar tools were known in very few numbers until some fortunate recent discoveries, and are part of the scanty indirect evidence for subsistence strategies during the Iron Age.
(MdE)