Spearhead or Spear-butt

This point appears to be the tip of a javelin or spear. Its square cross section, however, distinguishes it from the usual spearheads, which have two fins placed at one hundred eighty degrees on either side of a central socket. The four-sided point tapers to the tang (5.0 cm long) at one end, which has a chisel-like tip. While there are no exact parallels among the published bronze weapon heads from Olympia, examination of Greek helmets and body armor sometimes reveals square punctures that appear to have been inflicted by similar points. However, the large number of similar objects from the citadel and lower city of Hattusa (Boğazköy, Turkey) make it virtually certain that this object dates to the Hittite Empire, c. 1500-1200 BCE (1). NOTES: 1. Similar cast narrow pointed objects, called either “chisels” or “awls” have been found at Boğazköy; see R. Boehmer, Die Kleinfunde von Boğazköy, Boğazköy-Hattusa 7 (Berlin, 1972) 76, nos. 210-12, 214, 217, and 222-23, pl. 13; and numerous bronze “awls,” 115-17, nos. 936-995A, pls. 32-33, especially nos. 936, 949, 956, 982-83, and 993-95A; and id., Die Kleinfunde aus der Unterstadt von Boğazköy: Grabungskampagnen, 1970-1978, Boğazköy-Hattusa 10 (Berlin, 1979) 9-10, nos. 2586 and 2601, pl. 6 (chisels); and 24-26, nos. 3189-300, pls. 16-17 (awls). David G. Mitten