Canaanite Bronze Sword with Scabbard | Late Bronze Age Artifact 1200 BC

An authentic Canaanite bronze sword with its original scabbard, dating to approximately 1200 BC, from the closing centuries of the Late Bronze Age in the Ancient Levant. The sword features a long tapering blade with a pronounced midrib, narrowing to a sharp point, and a cast hilt with a flared butt and recessed grip panels originally intended for decorative inlays.

The accompanying bronze scabbard is formed as a slender protective sheath with a pointed terminal, a rare survival that enhances both the historical importance and display value of the piece. Weapons of this type were carried by elite warriors in the Canaanite city-states during a period marked by regional conflict, trade networks, and the transition toward the early Iron Age.

Dimensions:
Length: 33.5 cm (13.2 in)
Width: 3 cm (1.18 in)
Weight: 235 g

This sword dates to around 1200 BC, at the dramatic close of the Late Bronze Age, when the Canaanite city-states dominated the Levant shortly before the emergence of early Israelite culture in the highlands. It belongs to the era traditionally associated with the final generations before the upheavals recorded in the Biblical world of Joshua and Judges, a time marked by regional warfare, Egyptian imperial presence in Canaan, and the collapse of major eastern Mediterranean powers. Elite warriors carried weapons of this type during one of the most pivotal transitions in Near Eastern history, the shift from Bronze Age kingdoms to the early Iron Age societies that followed.

The sword and scabbard are cast in bronze, the dominant metal used for weapons across the eastern Mediterranean prior to the widespread adoption of iron. Bronze allowed craftsmen to produce strong yet refined blades with central reinforcing ribs, improving both durability and effectiveness in combat. Surviving examples with matching scabbards are uncommon and especially desirable among collectors of ancient Near Eastern arms.

Provenance
Private London collection; formerly in the M. Ebnöther collection, Switzerland, acquired in the 1980s. This piece has been checked against the Art Loss Register database.

Literature
For comparable examples of Late Bronze Age Canaanite swords of this type, see Y. Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands, New York, 1963, where related forms of midribbed bronze swords from the Levantine region are discussed and illustrated.