European Bronze Age Socketted Spear
12th-11th century B.C. Composed of a round-section open socket, narrow leaf-shaped blade with shallow groove. Cf. Leshtakov, L., 'Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Bronze Spear- and Javelin heads in Bulgaria in the context of Southeastern Europe' in Archaeologia Bulgarica, XV,2 (2011), pp.25-52, fig.2, no.2, for similar and fig.3 no.4, for decoration.228 grams, 28.5 cm (11 1/4 in.). From a German collection, pre 1970. Ex North American private collection, 1980s. Surrey, UK, collection,1990s. The shape of the blade resembles a willow leaf. Its widest part is situated in the middle of its length; the origin of this shape is still not very clear. It was probably invented somewhere in Anatolia or the Near East. In the Aegean it appears for the first time in LH II A, but this particular type in South-eastern Europe found correspondence especially with specimens from Lessura and Krichim, and are possibly of Balkan origin.