Thread: The Ultimate Restoration Project

This razor is 3200 years old, made of bronze, from the eastern Mediterranean region known as Luristan. Who knows what some Maas, some honing, might do?

Ya know, you would think that bronze would be waaayyy too soft to ever cut a hair. There have been bronze-aged shaving implements found, I'm just not sure how they would actually use anything of that nature. To me, that looks more like a surgical instrument than a shaving implement....but then Hippocrates was considered the father of medicine at around 350BCE. Surely there must have been doctors before that time period

Not really. Bronze was the main metal in use in the ancient world until about 1000 BC or so. Every razor in existence prior to that time is either made of flint (owie!!) or obsidian, chert, or bronze. Bronze razors have been found in the tombs of the pharaohs. Indeed, a shaving kit was in King Tut's tomb, and some of his razors dumped out into the entry way.

The ancients could do things with bronze that modern metallurgy has had trouble analyzing and duplicating. Battle swords, knives, and armor were all made of bronze. The "Iron Age" began about 1200 B.C. but it was still 200-300 years before iron's advantages were exploited to the point of making bronze obsolete.

Sorry...history professor mode reset to "OFF" position!

Originally Posted by red96ta

Ya know, you would think that bronze would be waaayyy too soft to ever cut a hair. There have been bronze-aged shaving implements found, I'm just not sure how they would actually use anything of that nature. To me, that looks more like a surgical instrument than a shaving implement....but then Hippocrates was considered the father of medicine at around 350BCE. Surely there must have been doctors before that time period

That is astonishing! How ever did you come across that? Looks fairly good condition for it's age. Was that an eBay find?

so old, i'd think it would have been weathered too much for it to be honed, looks brittle, who knows how the metal is underneath all the crud on top.

Cheers

Originally Posted by komjong

That is astonishing! How ever did you come across that? Looks fairly good condition for it's age. Was that an eBay find?

Oh my, I fear I created an inaccurate impression. This razor is most definitely not in my possession! I am a professor of Old Testament, and therefore of necessity, one who travels to the middle east to study history, geography, and archaeology. Any antiquity that I would "discover" in the field, in an excavation, could not be my own property. The purchase of "authentic" antiquities in the middle east remains a very controversial subject, and some scholars believe it to be unethical.

So, this is a picture of a find I came across doing some research. It's definitely not in my possession! I wish I did own something like that, but the only antiquities I have are licensed purchases of some very common pottery pieces for teaching.

Archaeologists, however, are quite familiar with razors and somewhere on SRP I have posted a short historical discussion of razors in the bronze age, including a chart of blade types. I can re-post here if anyone is interested.

As small as this razor is, one wonders if it's a candidate for the "Coochie Razor" on The Thread That Never Dies!

Lawson, it's great to have such a learned member here. I'd love to see the chart if you wouldn't mind posting it again.

And please continue on with the lesson, I'm interested to hear all about it.

An interesting hypothetical - if one of us came into possession of such a instrument, would he restore and hone it or not? I would be tempted.

Here's the chart again. There is some text that goes with it that I can't put my hands on right now. Will link to it if I find it.

Here's the file with the discussion of ancient razors. Being OCD about bibliographic references, I have put the book's title page at the start of the file.