L'uso degli astragali a Tell Mardikh-Ebla (Siria): oggetti simbolici o funzionali?

Worked and unworked knuckle-bones (astragali) were found in several contexts from the Early Bronze Age to the Iron Age at Tell Mardikh-Ebla (Syria). They were usually ovicrapid bones, sometimes occasionally cut lenghtwise with one or two smoothed sides. Groups of astragali have been found also in several additional Syro-Palestinian settlements, pointing out at some ritual of funerary significance, since they were stored in sacred buildings as offerings or buried as funerary assemblages. One of the most important discovery comes from Megiddo, where a cache of ca. 700 astragali was collected inside a bowl in a room dating from the beginning of the Iron Age. The Eblaic evidence seems to confirm the ritual hypothesis and the symbolic nature of the astragalus: a child-burial dating from MB II was accompanied by c.150 knuckle-bones together with a faience vessel. The storing of large amounts of these bones in vessels or caches suggests that prior to being eventually offered, astragali were the ‘property’ of private citizens, and therefore they could also be considered as objects reflecting the wealth of the owners. The scattered presence at Ebla of more smaller groups of knuckle-bones from private houses and fortresses located on the MB rampart also suggests an utilitarian function as gaming pieces, which is supported by ethnographic data and by a their documented use during the Classical times.

L’articolo analizza i ritrovamenti di astragali lavorati e non lavorati provenienti dal sito di Tell Mardikh-Ebla databili al Bronzo Medio (c. 2000-1600 a.C.) dal punto di vista zooarcheologico, contestuale e funzionale. Il materiale viene comparato con gli astragali lavorati rinvenuti in contesti del Levante e dell’Egeo tra il Bronzo Antico e l’età del Ferro. L’evidenza eblaita, con il ritrovamento di 150 astragali lavorati in una sepoltura di infante, conferma l’ipotesi rituale e il valore simbolico degli astragali, mentre gruppi di esemplari provenienti dal Forte Occidentale suggerisce al contempo una funzione utilitaristica come pedine da gioco, che trova conferme nella documentazione etnografica e dalle informazioni di epoca Classica.