TimeLine Auctions Limited
Lot 309
Early 1st millennium BC.An iron dagger with bronze fittings in a bronze scabbard; the dagger with slightly waisted flat-section blade and median midrib, incised lines to each face following the contour of the edge; bronze crossguard extending slightly beyond the edges of the blade, square-section tang and pommel formed as a trilobe plate in plan with three large knop rivets; the iron scabbard leaf-shaped with transverse reeded bronze band to the mouth and central section, median plaque to the front face with multiple incised lines, discoid finial with bronze plaque and four domed rivets; iron strap to the reverse, curved at the upper end, connecting two lateral loops, each with heater-shaped plaque to be riveted to the leather or textile belt or baldric; Iberian workmanship. See Capwell, Dr. T. Knives, Daggers and Bayonets, London, 2009 p.21; and see, Strong, D. The Early Etruscans, London, 1968 pp.16-27 for a discussion on Villanovan culture. 406 grams total, 36cm (14 4"). Fine condition.From an important English collection; acquired in the 1990s. Accompanied by a report of metallurgic analytical results, written by Metallurgist Dr. Brian Gilmour of the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford. The Celtiberians were Celtic-speaking people of the Iberian Peninsula in the final centuries BC. Archaeologically, the Celtiberians participated in the Hallstatt culture in what is now north-central Spain. The term Celtiberi appears in accounts by Diodorus Siculus, Appian and Martial who recognised intermarriage between Celts and Iberians after a period of continuous warfare.The Celtiberians were the most influential ethnic group in pre-Roman Iberia, but they had their largest impact on history during the Second Punic War, during which they became the allies of Carthage in its conflict with Rome, and crossed the Alps in the mixed forces under Hannibal's command. As a result of the defeat of Carthage, the Celtiberians first submitted to Rome in 195 BC; Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus spent the years 182 to 179 BC pacifying the Celtiberians; however, conflicts between various semi-independent bands of Celtiberians continued. After the city of Numantia was finally taken and destroyed by Scipio Aemilianus Africanus the Younger after a long and brutal siege that ended the Celtic resistance (154-133 BC), Roman cultural influences increased. The Sertorian War, 80 to 72 BC, marked the last formal resistance of the Celtiberian cities to Roman domination, which submerged the Celtiberian culture. [2]
