Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Bronze objects : Bronze spearhead with incised animal head [Χ4682]

Bronze spearhead with incised animal head

Χ4682

Metal (Bronze)

Intact

Length: 40 cm.

Anemospilia

Middle Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Middle Minoan ΙΙΙA period.:

1700 - 1650 BC:

Gallery:

VII

Case:

Exhibition thematic unit:

Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). Minoan religion - Domestic and open-air cult

Domestic shrines

Description

Bronze spearhead with two parallel rectangular holes and an incised emblem in the shape of a hybrid creature. Because the weapon is quite heavy, weighing 633 grammes, it is thought that the wooden shaft continued partway along the tang and was tied on through the two holes. In the centre of the blade is a mould-made and skilfully incised frontal head of animal, probably a boar. The spearhead was found on the skeleton of a young man in the west room of the building at Anemospilia. The excavators interpreted the building as a shrine, and the find in the west room as a rare case of ritual human sacrifice in Crete.

Bibliography:

Sakellarakis, Y. "Ο Ναός στα Ανεμόσπηλια". Αρχαιολογία 53 (1994): 22-28. Sakellarakis, Y. and Ε. Sakellaraki. "Ανασκαφή Αρχανών". Πρακτικά της εν Αθήναις Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας (1979): 331-392, pl. 183α. Sakellarakis, Y. and Ε. Sapouna-Sakellaraki. Αρχάνες. Μια νέα ματιά στη Μινωική Κρήτη. Vol. 2. Athens, 1997, 596-598, fig. 621, 622.

Author:

E. S.

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