RARE ANCIENT BRONZE SWORD WITH BONE HANDLE

1200-800 BC, Bronze Age Luristani. A rare bronze sword with a pointed, bevelled blade, raised midrib and a semi-spherical alabaster quillion and a bone handle with incised decoration comprising bands of delicate crosshatching and chevrons. Bronze weaponry production flourished in western Asia, the Aegean, and Mainland Greece from the 2nd millennium BC to about 700 BC, when it was gradually replaced by iron. Swords, spears, and arrows were important symbols of war in Bronze Age societies and served as powerful reminders that authority rested in the hands of those who could earn it. Superb condition. Size: L:390mm / W:60mm ; 400g. Provenance: Property of an established London gallery; acquired from a private estate collection formed in the 1990s.