Details

LOT 1021

Late Roman Iron Socketted Javelin

4TH-6TH CENTURY A.D.

9 1/4 in. (213 grams, 23.5 cm).

Fitted with a triangular blade with two barbs, expanding tubular socket. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

Literature

Cf. Bemmann, G. & Bemmann, J., Der Opferplatz von Nydam, Die Funde aus der älteren Grabungen, Nydam I und Nydam II, Neumünster, 1998, no.1063, pl.116, for similar.

Footnotes

Since the third century, Roman soldiers increasingly started to use long shafted socketed weapons with barbed heads. These weapons were called bebrae by Vegetius, according to whom they were able to cut heads with a single stroke. They first appeared in Northern Europe, as shown by numerous finds of barbed heads in graves and peat-bogs, especially Danish, and were introduced to the Roman army by Germanic mercenaries.