Bronze Short Sword with flanged inlaid hilt

Description

A bronze dirk or shortsword, cast in one piece, with blade and hilt cast in one piece, flanged hilt to receive the wood or bone inlay, a rectangular guard with shortened lappets on both sides which were used to secure the inlay. Near Eastern Iron-age: Circa 1100-800 BC, most probably Marduk Nadin Ahhe, Babylon. Very Fine condition, the edges of the lappets a little nibbled, the metal stable with green patination and light accretions covering the whole. The dirk belongs to the type I in the Medvedskaya classification. E. Herzfeld has suggested that they were from the graves of Assyrian soldiers garrisoned in Luristan (The Persian Empire. Studies in geography and ethnography of the ancient Near East, Wiesbaden, 1968, p. 29-31), the British Museum example was found in Luristan alongside a bowl with a cuneiform inscription stating that it was the property of Shamash-killani, an officer of the king. Schutzinger, 2001, p. 7 -- Luristan, dates to 2000 BC Archeological Museum of Frankfurt, Gravert collection, Luristan National Museum Teheran -- pos. 17 (47,2 cm x 4,5 cm) dates to 1000 BC Cf. Khorasani, M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran - The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, p.381, cat.6.cast wall. Highest precision workmanship.Hilt guard wall thickness: 0,6 mm. Impossible to cast in bronze even in pressure chamber. Must have been forged and grinded after initial casting, but no sigh of initial thicker wall.