Details

LOT 1793

Western Asiatic Bronze Arrowhead or Javelin Head with Inscribed X

LATE 2ND MILLENNIUM B.C.

4 1/2 in. (15.17 grams, 11.34 cm).

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

Provenance

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.

Literature

Cf. Milik, J.T., Cross, F.M. and Cross, Jr., 'Inscribed Javelin-Heads from the Period of Judges: A Recent Discovery in Palestine' in Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 134 (Apr., 1954), pp. 5-15, fig.1, for similar inscribed javelin or arrowheads.

Footnotes

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.