Bronze Age sword
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Bronze Age swords appear from around the 17th century BC, evolving out of the dagger.
Early examples with typical leaf-shaped blades are found in Mesopotamia, around the Mediterranean, particularly in Crete, and around the Black Sea. Characteristic for the Bronze Age are antenna-hilted swords; finds are spread from the Balearic Islands to the Gangetic plain (Copper Hoard culture, both on the Baleares and in India found in combination with double axes). The Halstatt culture continues to produce the type, in iron, until the 7th century BC.
Sword production in China is attested from the Bronze Age Shang Dynasty, with steel swords making their appearance from the 3rd century BC Qin Dynasty. The Chinese Dao (刀 pinyin dāo) is single-edged, sometimes translated as sabre or broadsword, and the Jian (劍 pinyin jiàn) double edged.
Swords longer than 90 cm were rare during the Bronze Age, because they would bend easily unless they were impractically thick and heavy - even very large swords seldom weighed more than about three kilograms, unless they were ceremonial display pieces not intended for combat. Longswords were not practical for combat until the invention of materials, such as steel, which are stronger for their weight than bronze.
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[edit] Evolution
The 3rd millennium Sumerian "sickle-sword" is an early predecessor of the backsword.
Metal bladed weapons were manufactured from the Bronze Age onwards, continuing the earlier tradition of flint blades. Early Bronze daggers were found at Arslantepe, Turkey, dating to ca. 3300 BC.[citation needed]
In general, the evolution of blade weapons in the Bronze Age is from the dagger or knife in the Early Bronze Age to the earliest "rapier" swords optimized for thrusting from the Middle Bronze Age to the typical leaf-shape blades in the Late Bronze Age. In the case of the British Isles, the chronology is as follows:
- 2100-1900 BC: late Beaker culture, knives, tanged spearheads (Bush Barrow)
- 1500-1300 BC: socketed spearheads (Acton Park hoard)
- 1300-1200 BC: "rapiers"
- 1000-900 BC: late Urnfield culture, socketed axes
- 900-700 BC: "Ewart" leaf-shaped swords (Ewart Park)
- 700-600 BC: Hallstatt C, early iron swords
[edit] Europe
- Further information: Ancient Near East and Bronze Age Europe
The early swords, called "rapiers", typically had long and slender shaped blades intended for thrusting. Later swords were broader and were both cutting and thrusting weapons. A typical variant for European swords is the leaf shaped blade, which was most common in North-West Europe at the end of the Bronze Age, in the UK and Ireland in particular.
The carp's tongue sword is a type of bronze sword that was common to western Europe during the 8th century BC. The blade of the carp's tongue sword was wide and parallel for most of its length but the final third narrowed into a thin tip intended for thrusting. The design was probably developed in north western France and combined the broad blade useful for slashing with a thinner, elongated tip suitable for thrusting. Its advantages saw its adoption across Atlantic Europe. In Britain, the metalwork in the south east derived its name from this sword: the Carp's Tongue complex. Early Iron Age swords like the Xiphos retain a similar shape, and evolve into the Spatha during the time of the Roman Empire.
The Naue Type II Swords which spread from Southern Europe into the Mediterranean, have been linked by Robert Drews with the Late Bronze Age collapse.[1]
Swords from the Nordic Bronze Age from ca. the 13th century BC show characteristic spiral patterns.[2]
[edit] China
- Further information: Bronze Age China
Sword production in China is attested from the Bronze Age Shang Dynasty. The technology for bronze swords reached it's highpoint during the Warring States period and Qin Dynasty. Amongst the Warring States period swords, some unique technologies were used, such as casting high tin edges over softer, lower tin cores, or the application of diamond shaped patterns on the blade (see the sword of Gou Jian). Also unique for Chinese bronzes is the consistent use of high tin bronze (17-21% tin) which is very hard and breaks if stressed too far, whereas other cultures preferred lower tin bronze (usually 10%), which bends if stressed too far. Although iron swords were made alongside bronze, it wasn't until the early Han Dynasty that iron completely replaced bronze, making China the last place were bronze was used in swords.
[edit] India
- Further information: Ochre Coloured Pottery culture
Early copper "swords" discovered at Harappan sites date back to 2300 BC.[citation needed] Swords have been recovered in archaeological findings of the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture throughout the Ganges-Jamuna Doab region of India, commonly made of copper, but in some instances made of bronze. Diverse specimens have been discovered in Fatehgarh, where there are several varieties of hilt. These swords have been variously dated to periods between 1700-1400 BC, but were probably used more extensively during the opening centuries of the 1st millennium BC (Iron Age India).[3]
[edit] Absence in some cultures
Not every culture that used bronze also developed swords. The steppe tribes f.e. preferred short daggers (the akinakes). In South America, bronze was used by the Incas, and although the concept of the sword was known in the form of wooden swords with stone edges (the macahuitl), they did not develop bronze swords.
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Naue Type II Sword
- ^ Schwerter -Spiralen
- ^ F.R. Allchin, 111-114
[edit] References
- R.F. Tylecote, The early history of metallurgy in Europe (1987) [1]
- F.R. Allchin in South Asian Archaeology 1975: Papers from the Third International Conference of the Association of South Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe, Held in Paris (December 1979) edited by J.E.van Lohuizen-de Leeuw. Brill Academic Publishers, Incorporated. Pages 106-118. ISBN 9004059962.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Origin of the sword by Dr Christian Eberhard Schulz (2005)
- The Bronze Age Rapier by Dr Barry Molloy (2005)
- The Naue II Sword by Brock Hoagland
- Bronze age swords casting by Neil Burridge
- Reproduction bronze age swords using authentic materials and methods (bronze-age-craft.com)
- Reproductions of bronze age swords (1501bc.com)
- From Rapier to Langsax: Sword Structure in the British Isles in the Bronze and Iron Ages by Niko Silvester (1995)
