1884.119.335.2

Collection type

Object

Description

Piece of wood, found in socket of prehistoric bronze spear head 1884.119.335 .1, and removed by conservation.

Long description

Piece of wood, found in socket of prehistoric bronze spear head 1884.119.335 .1, and removed by conservation. “Socketed spearhead. It has a leaf-shaped blade with rounded, sloping shoulders and a midrib with a flat central section. The top of the socket is missing but there are two symmetrically placed rivet holes on the remaining, which also has a small groove at its base and is partly closed. Similar spearheads date from LC II onwards, with further examples from CG I.” [Description by Karageorghis, V., 2009, p. 115] [JFK 19/11/2009]

Geographical reference

Cyprus

Asia > Western Asia > Cyprus

Unknown

Person

Maker Unknown Maker

Field collector Luigi Palma di Cesnola

PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection

Date / Period

Archaeological period: Bronze Age, uncertain Archaeological period: Iron Age, uncertain

Date collected

By 1874

Acquisition information

Donated: 1884

Materials and processes

Material Wood Plant

Dimensions

Length: max 56 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1884.119.335.2 Other numbers: Cypriot Archaeology 156 PR Cat other PR nos: 2605

Research and responses

At a sale at Sotheby's on 1st and 2nd May 1871, Pitt Rivers purchased two lots of metalwork. The sale was of material from the collections of General Luigi di Cesnola. It is possible but by no means certain that this object is from one of these lots. The lots were : Lot 18 'A Spear-Head with its socket ... 10in.' and lot 20 'Two Spear-Heads'. There does not appear to be a metal weapon or blade from Cyprus in the Pitt Rivers Collection which fits the measurements given but it is possible that the measurements were not exact. [MdeA 13 July 1999]

At a sale at Sotheby's on 3rd July 1871 Pitt Rivers purchased three lots of metalwork. The sale was the remainder the General Luigi di Cesnola's collection. It is possible but by no means certain that this object is from one of these lots. The lots were: Lot 62, Lot 63 and Lot 126 and consisted of 22 metal items - ten spear heads, a socketted spear, celts and other unlisted metal items.[MdeA 9 July 1999]

From information provided in Voce 1951 (see 'Publications History' above): Wrought bronze worked hot or cold, annealed in a moderate temperature (ca. 500C). Suggested tin content about 8%. Abnormally high iron content. Considerable penetrative corrosion had taken place. [GB 20/2/2006]

In 1999 samples from the PRM's collection of Cypriot archaeological metalwork were subjected to electron probe microanalysis with wavelength dispersive spectrometry by Peter Northover of the Department of Materials, University of Oxford. The sample from this object was given the sample number 'Cesnola 31' and subjected to three separate analyses, the mean results being as follows: Fe 0.34, Co 0.00, Ni 0.02, Cu 93.95, Zn 0.00, As 0.41, Sb 0.01, Sn 4.68, Ag 0.00, Bi 0.00, Pb 0.42, Au 0.00, S 0.15. For the full results of the analysis, see Peter Northover's unpublished report 'Analysis of Copper Alloy Metalwork in the Cesnola Collection, Pitt-Rivers Museum' (in RDF: Researchers: Northover). [JC 14 11 2008]

Associated publications

Published under catalogue number 156 on page 115 in Karageorghis, V., (2009) Cypriote Art in the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. A.G. Leventis Foundation. [JFK 09/10/2009] Illustrated in black and white in Plate VIII (right) and discussed in detail on pages 102-3 of Notes on the Prehistoric Metallurgy of Copper and Bronze in the Old World, by Herbert Henery Coghlan (Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum Occasional Paper on Technology, 4, 1951); see also detailed discussion on page 109 (and results of spectographic analysis on page 111) in ‘Examination of Specimens from the Pitt Rivers Museum’, by E. Voce, in the same publication, pp. 105-111. [JC 26 6 1996, 28 9 2006, 12 12 2008] Illustrated in black and white in Plate VIII (right) and discussed in detail on pages 125-6 of Notes on the Prehistoric Metallurgy of Copper and Bronze in the Old World, by Herbert Henery Coghlan (Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum Occasional Paper on Technology, 4, 2nd edn, 1975); see also detailed discussion on page 133 (and results of spectographic analysis on page 135) in ‘Examination of Specimens from the Pitt Rivers Museum’, by E. Voce, in the same publication, pp. 129-35. [JC 26 6 1996, 28 9 2006, 12 12 2008]

Search terms: Weapon, Spear-head