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The guys below are presumably Celts, on top of so-called anthropoid swords or daggers. Only about 50 have been found; typically in rich graves
from the 1st century BC. They are not very good for fights and thus might be just show-off or "magical" items for the well-to-do.
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Bronze or iron may have been used for the hilt / blade. There are bronze hilts
with bronze blades, bronze hilts with iron blades (the most common combination) and iron hilts (rare) with iron blades.
Sources are not always clear about that. The Metropolitan sword is dated to 60 BC; the "Stuttgart exhibition"
one to the middle of the 1st century BC. | |
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There is a big difference between bronze hilts and iron hilts! The first kind could be cast,
the second kind needed to be forged. It is thus no surprise that the bronze figures are far more detailed (and less corroded)
than the iron ones. And we have the old "Luristan
sword enigma" again: how did the smith make fine sculptures from iron? |
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Since I keep finding more and more Celtic anthropoid sword hilts, I dedicated a special module
(that includes large pictures) to them | |
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Celtic Anthropoid Swords (see text
for details) |
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Source: "Pininterest; gepinnt by Olga Stroganova. |
Iron hilt? |
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Source: Niels Provos (thanks!); photographed in the in the "Reichsmuseum Rothenburg";
Germany. |
Source: Niels Provos (thanks!); photograped in the British Museum, London.
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Front and back of anthropoid "Cu alloy" hilt, iron blade. Also in the British museum,
dated to 300 - 100) BC Source: British museum pages |
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""Ballyshannon Bay" Bronze hilt, dated to late 2nd / 1st century BC
Source: Photographed 2015 in the Dublin museum |
Iron hilt and blade Source: Hermann Historica 2015 catalogue.
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The "North Grimston" hilt once more. It is dated to (606 - 508) BC (???) |
Iron hilt and blade Source: Hermann Historica 2015 catalogue |
Source: Yorkshire World Collections objects |
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This beauty I found in 2017 in the Net (Pininterest) but (like almost always) without clear
reference to the origin. Probably, in Russia, judging be the cyrillic letters in parts of the page. |
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These two beauties are form from Mouriès (Bouches-du-Rhône) and Tesson (Charente-Maritime), France
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Source: balkancelts Journal of Celtic Studies in Eastern Europe and Asia-Minor; Internet |
Link to text |
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| Three early / primitive ones form Budapest. |
Source: Photographed in the Hungarian National Museum in Budpest, 2015 |
Link to text |
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Surprise! The iron sword on the left-hand side (up three) has a pattern
welded blade involving striped rods: |
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Hermann Historica, a Munich-based auction house,
attributes this sword to the 3rd century BC. It comes from a "South German private collection" and appears in
the Oct. 2015 auction. The starting price is 2.500.-.
Here is the full description of this sword and pictures of a second one. |
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Like always, there are also "in-betweens" or proto-anthropoid swords.
Here is one: |
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| Forerunner of Celtic anthropoid sword |
Source: Photographed 2014 in the Mainfränkisches Museum, Würzburg, Germany |
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This short sword was found in Margetshöchheim (near to Würzburg,
Germany) and dates to "middle Latène" (around 200 BC) and thus might be a bit older then the ones above. |
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In April 2016, "Hermann Historica" a well-known auction
house in Munich, offered the sword shown below. It was described as" "Damaszierte Schwertklinge,
Mittlere Latènezeit, 2. Jhdt. v. Chr. Lange, dünne Klinge mit konkav geschwungenem Übergang von Griffangel
zu Klinge, der für das glockenförmige Heft latènezeitlicher Schwerter charakteristisch ist. Klinge sich
nach unten zu leicht verjüngend und in abgerundete, seitlich leicht nach außen gewölbte Spitze übergehend.
Mittig zweibahnige Damaszierung mit Fischgrätenmuster, außen die Fasen angesetzt. Elektrolytisch behandelt, was
die Struktur der Damaszierung ausgesprochen klar zur Geltung gebracht hat. Scharten vor allem im Bereich der Fasen. Sehr
aufwändig gearbeitete, keltische Schwertklinge. Länge 85,5 cm. Maximale Klingenbreite 4,2 cm. Süddeutscher
Privatbesitz, übernommen aus der Sammlung des Großvaters, von diesem erworben in den 1960er Jahren".
I don't need to translate that except for the dating: Middle La Tène, 2nd century BC. Everything of interest
is vispble below. |
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Patterm welded sword from the La Tène Celts? |
Source: Hermann Historica catalogue April 2016 |
Link to main text |
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The two twisted striped rods are expertly done and so is the ensemble. The smith
who made this sword must have had some prior experience in pattern welding with twisted striped rods. I bet that one of
the two steels is a phosphorous steel and that the materials have been faggoted.
If the sword is really from the 2nd century BC (you can never been totally sure with swords of unknown provenience
from the antiquity trade), we must date complex pattern welding back to 200 BC or even earlier. A close investigation of
this sword might help but that still need to be done. |
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© H. Föll (Iron, Steel and Swords script)