Bob L.'s Top 15 Not-Coins of 2019

Yep, grave goods, Steve. From my essay at Forum:
"Three thousand years ago nomadic horsemen who served as mercenaries in regional conflicts would purchase such metal weaponry as they traveled through towns in the area. When they died their weapons were buried with them. As Moorey states, '…even the poorest male graves appear to have contained a few simple weapons; the richest were amply stocked with them.' Accordingly, many of the ancient Iranian daggers, lance blades, and so forth that one spots in museums and on the market, are from graves."

The attribution is valid, Al. Beautiful dagger. I typically see 1200-800 BC (rather than -900 BC) listed for Luristani artifacts. If you reference plate 89 of Bruno Overleat’s “Luristan Excavation Documents, Vol. IV: The Early Iron Age in the Pusht-I Kuh, Luristan” at academia.edu, you’ll see a specimen (A9-58, from Kutal-I Gulgul tomb A9) with a hilt quite similar to yours.

Regarding the Piscopo collection, see my response to rrdenarius a few posts above...or, to save you the trouble, here's what I said earlier:

So I'm a bit jealous of you, Al. That's great provenance for your dagger. I do hope to add an ex-Piscopo at some point down the line.

 

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