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Details
LOT 1385
Germanic Iron Socketted Javelin Head
CIRCA 5TH-6TH CENTURY A.D.
16 in. (210 grams, 40.7 cm).
Long shaft tapering towards a triangular blade with strong mid-rib and squared shoulders; professionally cleaned, conserved, and restored. [No Reserve]
Provenance
From the family collection of a South East London collector; formerly acquired in the late 1950s.
Literature
Cf. Wilcox, P., Rome's Enemies, Germanic and Dacians, London, 1982, p.25, for a similar specimen from Austria.
Footnotes
The total length of these javelins, including iron heads, shanks and wooden shafts, was probably about 210cm. The design was, obviously, intended to kill or cripple efficiently. The length of the shaft suggest that these javelins, including the infamous angon, were used also in hand to hand combat, where there was a danger of the head being lopped off.
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