Saturday, May 18, 2013

Deve Hüyük: An Achaemenid graveyard

Shortly before World War I, Charles Woolley and T.E. Lawrence excavated a site in northern Syria:  a graveyard for members of a Persian imperial garrison near the then-Assyrian city of Carchemish.  The site yielded many goods that would have been used in war and day-to-day life by Iranian troops in the 6th-4th centuries BC.  A gallery of finds may be viewed at the British Museum website.  Sadly, the majority of items are unillustrated, but I'd like to highlight a few that may be useful for your living history projects:

A spearhead, in case you needed a reminder just how small these things could be, especially in comparison to modern repros.

A javelin head, looking surprisingly unlike a spearhead.

An akinakes.  To this I would also add examples from Osprey's The Persian Army, also from Deve Hüyük.  Note on all examples the plain iron hilts with guards and grips forged as one piece, and also the short, broad fuller on the longer Osprey example.

A fibula (cloak pin) which should be good for your Cappadocian impression.  (Incidentally, Cappadocians are next week's Peoples of the Empire entry.)

A hand mirror.  Well, everyone needs one sooner or later.

A bronze plate cover for the top end of a gorytos.

The various bronze bowls are also worth checking out, and if you're doing a cavalry impression, you'll want a snaffle bit of appropriate shape.

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