Large Iron Spear Head Mesopotamia Circa 1200 BCE

Description

Large Iron Spear Head Mesopotamia
Iron
12th - 8th Century BCE
15-1/4" / 38 cm long
A
rare
, very old forged iron spear head with a 15/16th inch wide socket and one drilled attachment hole.
Shaft includes simple decorative rounded rings.
There is a
very old
repaired defect in the shaft
that extends from the socket base and narrows to a fine split up to the decorative rings (see pic #8 right before the COA). It could be a forging defect but I seriously doubt that as it would been easy enough to discard into the crucible, remelt and cast again.
My
guess
is that the spear head was seriously damaged in battle and was repaired in field for continued use. It was a crude fix but effective as the whole piece is very stable
.
"
Iron Age
, final technological and cultural stage in the S
tone
–B
ronze
–Iron Age sequence. The date of the full Iron Age in which this metal for the most part replaced bronze
in implements
and weapons
, varied geographically, beginning in the Middle East
and southeastern Europe
about 1200
BCE
. Although in the Middle East iron
had limited use as a scarce and 'precious'
metal as early as 3000
BCE
, there is no indication that people at that time recognized its superior qualities over those of bronze. Between 1200 and 1000, however, the export of knowledge of iron
metallurgy
and of iron objects was rapid and widespread. With the large-scale production of iron implements came new patterns of more permanent settlement. On the other hand, utilization of iron for weapons put arms in the hands of the masses for the first time and set off a series of large-scale movements of peoples that did not end for 2,000 years and that changed the face of Europe and the Middle
East and the entire world."
"Most of the iron used in weapons during the Iron Age, i.e., Roman swords, was a low-density iron sponge-like material. This sponge-like iron was then pounded to shape, densify, and remove impurities. Bronze was superior to the iron produced commonly, so why did iron ultimately replace bronze?
Bronze weapons were indeed of higher quality than the common iron weapons typically produced. However, tin, which is required for the production of bronze, is not abundantly available. As a consequence, bronze weapons were primarily utilized by nobles, royalty, pharaohs, etc. The common foot soldier was not going to possess bronze weapons; there were not enough to go around.
Unlike tin, iron ore is readily available. So, although inferior to bronze, an army of hundreds or thousands could be equipped with iron weapons, which was not practical with bronze weapons. So, the ability to produce large numbers of iron weapons overcame the advantages of bronze."
A
very large and impressive iron spear head
with a likely very interesting history
!
Ex. MuseumSurplus
Free shipping
.
Free cork!
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