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LOT 1411
Bronze Age Socketted Spearhead
CIRCA 19TH CENTURY B.C.
10 1/8 in. (183 grams, 25.6 cm).
With foliate blade and tapering socket. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.
Cf. Gorelik, M., Weapons of Ancient East, IV millennium BC-IV century BC, Saint Petersburg, 2003, in Russian, see pl.XXXIV, no.1, for identical spearhead from Kanesh (Nesa or Kultepe).
FootnotesThe bronze spearhead developed considerably during the period of the Assyrian colonies in Anatolia and even during the period Karum III-IV, maintaining consistently its southern shape. Conical points are also known from Bogazkoy's Karum levels. While spearheads from the first half of the 2nd millennium B.C. were hafted by means of a tang, with two slots in the blade providing additional support, most of the Late Bronze Age spearheads were socketted.
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