Bronze spearhead from Cyprus

What you see

What you see

A spearhead 35.4 cm long: a leaf-shaped blade with a "strongly marked" midrib, and a tubular socket with two rivet holes, into which a wooden shaft was fitted. The record notes an impression of woven fabric near the end of the socket and of binding near the shoulder. The photograph is the collection image. Source 1.

What the record says

The record dates the spearhead "ca. 1200-1100 BCE" and names a period in the Cypriot scheme, "Probably Late Cypriot IIIA", with the word "probably". Culture: Cypriot. No findspot is given; the object is from the Cesnola Collection. It is not currently on view.

A possible weapon is not a proven event

A spearhead is a possible weapon, but the record says nothing about a battle, an owner or how it was used. The site's weapons page explains this distinction; the slingstones article shows how to examine a group of objects without turning it into the record of an event. Here one can say only what the record documents: form, material, dimensions and the impressions preserved in the metal.

Its place on the timeline

"Late Cypriot IIIA" belongs to the scheme of Cyprus, not of the Levant. In the site's period scheme for Cyprus the spearhead is placed in the Late Bronze Age (about 1650 to 1050 BCE), on the basis of the period name in the record and with its "probably". It therefore appears under the Cyprus tab in the Bronze Age group, and is not assigned to a period on the Levant timeline.

Where it is now

Held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, record 74.51.5309. On 22 October 2026 the record stated "Not on view".