Luristan Bronze Socketted Adze

Comprising leaf-shaped and triangular tanged arrowheads, most with a raised midrib. 238 grams total, 8.1-18.7 cm



London, UK, collection, 1990s.

All these bronze typologies of arrowheads were cast in moulds. Similar specimens have been found in Northwest and West Iran, Azerbaijan, Luristan and Amlash. Most of these blades are bipartite, but the definition of the bipartite type is not absolute, as it brings together weapons of very different and unrelated designs. In fact, some weapons do not have a sufficiently characteristic shape to be interpreted as a javelin or long arrowhead.

Comprising six caltrops, hand-forged with square-section spikes. 195 grams total, 85-87 mm



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

P. Žákovský has been able to classify medieval caltrops, mainly from the 13th to 15th centuries A.D., based on their morphology, into four main typologies, each with different variants. Caltrops with single-pointed spikes, whose interpretation, however, is often ambiguous, belong to type I. The other three types represent classic four-pointed caltrops, and individual types in this group differ from one another just in their cross-section.

Leaf-shaped with two cutting edges and a broad point, low midrib, on the face an incised 'X' in a square. 15.17 grams, 11.34 cm



Ex Guttman collection, Germany. with Christie's, 28 April 2004, no.27 (part). Acquired from Bidancient and Artifacts UK, 2009. Ex important collection of Greek artefacts, London, UK.

The letter X has been found in various Semitic/Accadic or even Philistine Inscriptions in the Levant: dated between 13th-10th centuries B.C.: on the Lachish bowl no.1, on the Ruweiseh arrowhead, on a Byblian bronze spatula, on the Ahiram graffito, at Yehimilk. This suggests that the arrow or javelin head has been made in the Levant or the Fertile Crescent.