arrow-head
- Museum number
- 1886,0401.1735
- Description
-
Copper alloy arrow-head. Barbed with broken and missing tang. Ridge along middle with a central burr gives the arrow a diamond shape section.
- Production date
- 525BC - 30BC
- Dimensions
-
Length: 52 millimetres
-
Width: 17.50 millimetres
-
Depth: 10 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Belongs to the Dornpfeilspitzen types 1A4 and 1A5 (Baitinger 2001, figs 31-40). Poor preservation makes identification difficult. If correct Baitinger suggests this type was developed from Mycenaean forms that continued to be used into the Hellenistic period (Baitinger 2001). The Archaic form developed out of Late Bronze Age Greek and Cretan types and is associated with composite bow. This form was also found on the battlefield of Marathon (Snodgrass 1964, 145-7, boss and barb tanged ‘Cretan’ type Form 1C2; 1967,81, fig. 35; Erdmann 1973, 35 Form B1, 1200, 7th-1st centuries BC). For a discussion of provenance see also Pelleg et al. 1983. Parallels from Egypt in the British Museum include: BM GR 1920,0214.38, 1920,0214.37 and 1866,1228.46.
Baitinger, H. 2001, Die Angriffswaffen aus Olympia, Berlin & New York.
Erdmann, E. 1973. ‘Die sogenannten Marathonpfeilspitzen in Karlsruhe’, Archäologischer Anzeiger 88, 30-58. British Museum parallels from Egypt BM/BIG 42174.
Forsdyke E. J. 1919/20, ‘Some arrow-heads from the battlefield of Marathon’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London 2.32, 146-157.
Pelleg, J., Baram, J. and Oren, E. D. 1983, ‘Analysis of bronze arrowheads of the Saite period from the Nile Delta region’, Metallography 16.1, 81-98.
Snodgrass, A. M. 1964, Early Greek armour and weapons from the end of the Bronze Age to 600 BC, Edinburgh.
Snodgrass, A. M. 1967, Arms and armour of the Greeks, London.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Corroded, broken tang.
- Acquisition date
- 1886 (Excavated 1884-1885.)
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1886,0401.1735
