ANCIENT MYCENAEAN GREEK BRONZE AGE NEEDLE-BARBED ARROWHEAD *LUR254

Product Description

SEE MORE ANCIENT GREEK ARTIFACTS

Dating from the last phase of the Bronze Age of ancient Mycenaean Greece, this is a rare and superbly preserved needle-barbed cast bronze arrowhead.  It shows complete preservation down to the presence of the delicate barbs, and is with superb colorful ancient encrustations.  This arrowhead would have had the tang inserted into a hollow reed arrow shaft, and then the arrowhead lashed to the wood with cord or sinew.  Ancient arrowheads from Greece are quite scarce and this is one of only a very few we have to offer, and for the first time!  

This arrowhead compares with specimens excavated from Achaean settlements dated from 1500 BC, to the final phases of the Mycenaean period.  For more information and reference, see this page, main arrowhead type VIIc, and for similar specimens, illustration #14 lower on the same page.

This artifact has  been professionally cleaned and conserved in our lab, being treated with a special sealer developed and formulated by us specifically for ancient metal preservation.  The patina shows beautiful traits only found in authentic ancient weapons.  It is a patina like this that the finest ancient bronzes are prized for and it is a patina like this that brings a premium in price and value of the specimen.  There is no active bronze disease. Bronze disease can develop on ancient bronze that is not properly cleaned and conserved.  It produces a corrosive powder that will literally eat away an artifact over time and destroy it.

WARNING:  There is a STAGGERING number of fake bronze weapons on the market.  Many being sold as "authentic" were never meant to deceive and were made as far back as 100 years ago as exact reproductions for museums to sell in their gift shops.  Other examples are modern fabrications specifically intended to fool unwitting buyers.  As fine quality intact, original specimens become more scarce, the techniques to fake these objects have become highly advanced.  We have personally handled numerous well-done fakes with extremely convincing patinas.  The degree to which the fakers have been able to replicate patina to disguise their work requires an expert examination by highly experienced individuals.  It is common to find very reasonably priced weapons that are made up of part original and part modern components or wholly modern pieces displaying elaborate artificial patinas.  All purchases should include a written guarantee of authenticity from the seller, with unconditional and lifetime return policies regarding such guarantee, such as we provide.

HISTORY

Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BC.  It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainland Greece with its palatial states, urban organization, works of art, and writing system.  The most prominent site was Mycenae, after which the culture of this era is named.  Mycenaean and Mycenaean-influenced settlements also appeared in Epirus, Macedonia, on islands in the Aegean Sea, on the south-west coast of Asia Minor the Levant, Cyprus, and Italy.

The Mycenaean Greeks introduced several innovations in the fields of engineering, architecture and military infrastructure, while trade over vast areas of the Mediterranean was essential for the Mycenaean economy. Their syllabic script, the Linear B, offers the first written records of the Indo-European Greek language, and their religion already included several deities that can also be found in the Olympic Pantheon. Mycenaean Greece was dominated by a warrior elite society and consisted of a network of palace-centered states that developed rigid hierarchical, political, social and economic systems.

Mycenaean Greece perished with the collapse of Bronze Age culture in the eastern Mediterranean, to be followed by the Greek Dark Ages, a record-less transitional period leading to Archaic Greece.

As part of the Mycenaean heritage that survived, the names of the gods and goddesses of Mycenaean Greece became major figures of the Olympian Pantheon of later antiquity.  Moreover, the language of the Mycenaeans offers the first written evidence of Greek, while a significant part of the Mycenaean vocabulary can also be found in modern English.

The Mycenaean Greeks were also pioneers in the field of engineering, launching large-scale projects unmatched in Europe until the Roman period, such as fortifications, bridges, culverts, aqueducts, dams and roads suitable for wheeled traffic.  They also made several architectural innovations, such as the relieving triangle.  They were also responsible for transmitting a wide range of arts and crafts, especially of Minoan origin. The Mycenaean civilization was in general, more advanced compared to the Late Bronze Age cultures of the rest of Europe.  Several Mycenaean attributes and achievements were borrowed or held in high regard in later periods, so it would be no exaggeration to consider Mycenaean Greece as a cradle of civilization.