LOT 1261

Bronze Age Socketted Spearhead

14TH-12TH CENTURY B.C.

6 in. (147 grams, 15.3 cm).

Lusatian with a broad, pointed-oval blade and a raised central groove with converging ribs.

Private collection, 1950s.
Ex Gorny and Mosch, Munich, Germany, 18 December 2009, lot 463 (part).

Cf. similar spearheads in Mikołajczyk, A., Collections of the Archaeological and Ethnographical Museum of Łodz, (in Polish) Łodz, 1981, fig.38 p.43; Klochko, V., 'Weapons of the tribes of the Northern Pontic zone in the 16th – 10th centuries B.C.' in Baltic-Pontic Studies, Poznań, 1993, vol.1, figs.9, 10, 26.

The Lusatian Culture (1300-500 BC) is a Late Bronze Age culture, located in the geographic areas of Eastern Germany (Saxony and Brandenburg), Slovakia, Poland, the Baltic countries and the Black Sea area and is characterised by cremation burials. The dead were buried with their personal equipment: men were provided with weapons (comprising sword, dagger, axe, and spearhead) and ornaments (usually a pin or bracelet). At the start of the Middle Bronze Age, several innovations spread quickly and with a lasting effect across central Europe: swords (based on influences from the Danube region) and spears (socketted spearheads) appeared as new weapons, while two-edged razors, tweezers, knives, and sickles were the new tools.