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 1000-800 BC.
 
Very Fine condition; the edges of the lappets a little nibbled; the metal stable with green patination and light accretions covering the whole.
Length 48 cms (18.9 ins)
NB. Not supplied with display stand.
 
Ex P.C. 1990's collection.
 
The dirk belongs to the type III in the Medvedskaya classification, used in Near East from the 13th to the 6th century B.C. The Asiatic daggers of this type are confined to Syria and Persia, but Transcaucasia also provides an interesting analogy from Kalekent on the Baku peninsula, where a pointed straight-sided dagger blade has a flanged hilt with the whole of the side flanges bent over the centre.