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LOT 1241
Bronze Age Socketted Spearhead
14TH-12TH CENTURY B.C.
5 1/2 in. (102 grams, 14 cm).
Lusatian with a broad, pointed-oval blade and a raised central groove with converging ribs.
ProvenancePrivate collection, 1950s.
Ex Gorny and Mosch, Munich, Germany, 18 December 2009, lot 463 (part).
See 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.
FootnotesThe 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.
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Opening Bid: £40
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Bronze Age Socketted Spearhead
14th-12th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £390
The socket of tapering round-section form, leaf-shaped head with midrib to both faces extending almost the full length. 198 grams, 20 cm
Acquired on the EU art market around 2000. From the collection of a North American gentleman.
Bronze Age warriors often deposited personal equipment with the bodies of the deceased or as offerings in the rivers. Technological change was rapid: short daggers lengthened into rapiers and swords, axes developed new and more effective methods of hafting. More specialised equipment emerged, and small foliate spearheads were also present in the Koszider phase of bronzeworking.