Additional Pictures

Here are bronze daggers similar to the Nebra type. They were found in the larger Würzburg area / South Germany and dated to the "middle bronze age", i.e. 1600 BC - 1300 BC.
   
Bronze Daggers; Wuerzburg
Link to text Source: Photographed 2014 in the Mainfränkisches Museum, Würzburg, Germany
     
Here is the advertisment to the "weird" Luristani swords:
   
 
Bonhams is a privately owned British auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It is highly respected and would never offer doubtful objects.
Nevertheless - the long sword on the left does not fit into any category from 1000 BC that I know of.
     
Here are a few more Luristani objects:
   
Luristabneio bronze horse bt
Horse bit with cheek pieces
Source: Photographed 2014 in the Copenhagen Museum
     
   
Luristan bronze standarts; Neues Museum, 
Berlin
Luristan "Master of Animals" bronze standarts
Source: Photographed 2015 in the Neues Museum,. Berlin
 
Luristan bronze swords copenhagen
Bronze daggers / swords
Source: Photographed 2014 in the Copenhagen Museum
     
The Greek "kopis" is i) an especially interesting sword because it seems to have made the transition from bronze to iron without changing its appearance, and ii) lived on as falcata in Spain and around there for quite a while .
Neither of the two statements is trivial. A bronze kopis could be cast in one piece, an iron kopis had to be forged; not an easy thing to do. Then we have an unclear relationship in space and time between the Greek kopis and the falcata in Spain. We also might ask why the Romans didn't go for the kopis?
Unfortunately, what one finds with respect to this topic is not much, and what there is tends to be very confusing. There is, however, a good paper from Janet Lang of the British Museum that gives details including some metallurgy 1).
First lets look at two (allegedly) Greek Kopis', photographed in the NYC Metropolitan Museum:
     
Greek kopis; iron, 4th - 5th century BC
Kopis / falcata
Greek Kopis' (photographed from different angles) in the Metropolitan. Obviously iron, allegedly from the 4th - 5th century BC
Source: General Internet source without reliable reference to the origin of thes pictures that was obviously taken in a museum.
     
The Metropolitan offers one picture, evidently the front one of the two shown above:
     
Kopis / macheira; Metropolitan, NYC
The text to this picture is:
Iron machaira (sword)
Period: Classical
Date: 5th–4th century B.C.
Culture: Greek
Source: Metropolitan, Internet
     
In June 2016 a kind of kopis came up in an auction:
   
Kopis from 2016 auction
"Greek Iron Kopis Dagger, Ex-J. Piscopo"
Source: liveauctioneers; Internet, June 2016
     
The text given is:
Greece, ca. 5th century BCE. This is the iron blade of a Greek dagger, known as a kopis. It has decorative inscribed lines along one curved edge of its blade and includes a slight guard and extended tang. The word kopis comes from the Greek "to cut, to strike" and describes a heavy knife with a forward-curving blade. It was used for the ritual slaughter of animal sacrifices. Size: 9.8" L x 1.2" W (24.9 cm x 3 cm). Provenance: Ex-Estate of John Piscopo. Mr. Piscopo was one of the largest collectors of ancient weapons in the US with a collection that spanned all cultures, all ages. Ex-Andrew Bistak.
Then we have a well-preserved Kopis / falcata in the "Neues Museum", Berlin, all but identical in shape to the Metropolitan ones. The Neues Museum counts this sword just under: "Weapons from Spain; 3rd - 5th century BC":
     
Falcata / Kopis, Neues Museum, Berlin
Large picture
Source: Photographed 2015 in the "Neues Museum", Berlin
     
The National Museum in Budapest, Hungary, has a well-hidden falcata in its collections. It is kept in the dark and partially behind other stuff. With luck, a picture shows mire than you con see in-situ. It is described as "iron sword from Penc".
     
Falcata / Kopis, National Museum, Budapest, Hungary
Large picture
Source: Photographed 2015 in the National Museum, Budapest, Hungary
     
Finallly , there is a good kopis / machaira on a gold vessel showing a scene from the "Seven against Thebae" myth:
     
Kopis in gold
Figural fries, amphora - rhyton; gold. 2nd half of the 4th century BC; Plovdiv, Museum of Archaeology.
Source: "Thracian treasures from Bulgaria"; Maria Reho, Pavluna Ilieva, Bulgarian Academy of Science (ISBN 954-500-162-3); p. 111
     

1) Janet Lang: Iberian Falcata in the British Museum, (2014),Proc. Int. Symposium SMEA 2019 p . 49, ,
     

With frame With frame as PDF

go to Sword Types

go to Critical Museum Guide: Metropolitan Museum, NYC

go to Critical Museum Guide: Museums in Copenhagen

go to Critical Museum Guide: Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany

go to Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg, Germany

go to Cyprus Museum

go to Museums in Athens and Olympia

go to Sword Places: Luristan

go to 11.1.2 The Bronze Sword

go to 11.1.4 Swords of Major Near East Powers in the 1st Millennium BC

go to Large Pictures - Chapter 11.1

© H. Föll (Iron, Steel and Swords script)