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LOT 1378
Luristan Bronze Arrowhead Group
13TH-6TH CENTURY B.C.
2 1/2 - 5 3/8 in. (182 grams total, 64-13.5 cm).
Comprising tanged arrowheads of leaf-shaped and barbed types, most with midribs. [10]
ProvenanceAcquired 1990s.
From the collection of a late Japanese weaponry collector.
See Muscarella, O.W., Bronze and Iron Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,1988, pp.289ff. nos.396,398-400,410,416, for similar arrowheads; Khorasani, M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran. The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, items 449, 467, for types.
FootnotesAlthough some of them different in shape, these arrowheads are apparently related types of a polythetic group. There are represented two basic deltoid forms: one has a sharp, flat blade, the ends of which extend to form wings or barbs, and a prominent midrib extending into a long tang that often has a stop; the blade shape varies from deltoid to more manifestly triangular. The other form has no barbs, but it has a prominent midrib extending to the tang, the blade narrow and leaf shaped.
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Luristan Bronze Arrowhead Group
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Comprising mainly tanged arrowheads including various types of leaf-shaped heads with midribs. 200 grams total, 12-15.3 cm
Acquired 1990s. From the collection of a late Japanese weaponry collector.
The barbed arrowhead seems to belong to the type V, subcategory type C, according to the classification of Khorasani and Negahban. In the four categories of triangular bronze arrowheads from Luristan, Marlik and Northern Iran individuated by Negahban, subtypes C and D of type V are larger arrow or javelin heads, C large triangular arrowheads with barbed shoulders and D with lanceolate shape and rounded midrib. The straight shoulders recalls a Marlik typology (see Khorasani, 2006, p.307, fig.379).
