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Details
LOT 0316
Massive Late European Bronze Age Finely Ribbed Socketted Spearhead
CIRCA 10TH CENTURY B.C.
17 3/4 in. (449 grams, 45 cm).
Formed with an elongated leaf-shaped blade, the socket extending into the blade in the form of a tapered mid-rib with decorative raised central grooves.
Provenance
Acquired from John Cummings, UK, in 1988.
Ex Lord Alistair McAlpine collection.
Literature
Cf. Christie's, The Axel Guttmann Collection of Ancient Arms and Armour, part 1, London, 2002, pp.10-11, no.5, for similar spearhead.
Footnotes
This spear seems to have parallels to those found in the tombs of the 'sword bearers' of central-southern Europe, an aristocratic class of the Urn Fields civilisation who had its last period of splendour between 10th-9th centuries B.C. The weapons were deposited with various objects inside incineration graves, but the spears were often ritually damaged (see tomb 5 of the necropolis of Pontenuovo di Gazzo Veronese, broken into three parts). Our spear, in the upper part, seems to show traces of oxidation due to the fire of the funeral pyre, and probably came from a tomb.
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LOT 0316
Massive Late European Bronze Age Finely Ribbed Socketted Spearhead
Estimate £800 - 1,000€930 - 1,160 (for guidance only)$1,080 - 1,350 (for guidance only)
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One horn cracked and repaired
Acquired 1970s-1980s. From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman.
Moorey, analysing similar swords found in Amarlu, stated that the blade and tang were made first, forged to shape by hammering at a high temperature. The next step was to cover the tang with a clayed material. Once dry, this material formed the core for the casting. Then a hollow mould of the exact shape of the shoulder, grooved hilt and pommel was made around the clay core covering the tang. Finally, liquid metal was poured into the mould. The weapon was then finished by hammering the pommel and shoulder to the hilt.
