A bronze shortsword/dagger, Medvedskaya type IVa, with blade and hilt cast in one piece. The weapon has a crescentic pommel at the top, an integral cast hilt with a narrow grip with scalloped flanges which would once have contained an inlay, and at the base a characteristic penannular ornamental guard, centred above the prominent midrib.
 
Such weapons are found across western Iran and adjacent regions, typically dated to the Late Bronze to Early Iron Age: Circa 1200 to 900 BC.
 
Very Fine condition generally; some edges a little nibbled; metalwork with a light brown cuprous patination.
Length 45.5 cms (17.9 ins)
 
Provenance: Ex Cologne Germany private collection 1970's-1990.
 
Literature: I. N. Medvedskaya, 'The Iranian Daggers of the Second and Early First Millennia B.C.' Iranica Antiqua, Vol. 24, 1989, pp. 1-42. Based on the shape of the hilts of flanged daggers, Medvedskaya differentiates between different types of these weapons originating from different regions in Iran. Type IVa is one of the most distinctive due to its ring or circular guard element and complex grip geometry.
 
For similar types of penannular see also item 49; Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ashmoleon Museum: P.R.S. Moorey.
 
These were prestige weapons, likely carried by elite warriors or chieftains, and found in sites such as Luristan and the Zagros region.