Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures

The magnificent collection of ivories found in an annex of the Stratum VIIA palace at Megiddo is often cited as illustrative of the internationalism characterizing the Late Bronze Age. This article re- examines the ivories from both a stylistic and archaeological perspective to provide a new reconstruction of their acquisition and deposition. Considering the diversity of the ivories’ styles, their incomplete and unreconstructible nature, and the presence of a large, articulated animal skeleton on top of them, I propose that the assemblage is best viewed within an interpretive framework of hoarding and ritual deposition at the end of the Bronze Age.