"You can't win a war with choirboys. " Mad Mike Hoare
If she's only 8, does she still qualify as a watery bint with a sword...?
(NOTE: "Bint": Arabic for "girl" or "daughter". Get your mind out of the gutter.)
Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
“It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
Glenn Reynolds
That depends. Was there a guy named Arthur around?Originally Posted by Drang
" La rose est sans pourquoi, elle fleurit parce qu’elle fleurit ; Elle n’a souci d’elle-même, ne demande pas si on la voit. » Angelus Silesius
"There are problems in this universe for which there are no answers." Paul Muad'dib
“Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.”
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Nevertheless, that sword is a pretty cool find. I'd be curious about the quality of the steel
" La rose est sans pourquoi, elle fleurit parce qu’elle fleurit ; Elle n’a souci d’elle-même, ne demande pas si on la voit. » Angelus Silesius
"There are problems in this universe for which there are no answers." Paul Muad'dib
That’ll buff right out.
I dunno. Lately...
Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
“It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
Glenn Reynolds
Unless you had crucible steel, which only arrived in Europe for a short time (900 to 1100 AD) via the Volga trade, quality was variable. Pattern welding, where rods of different steel were heated and forged together could yield good steel by spreading out the impurities but it was a crap shoot from what I've read. Roman historians from the days before 500 AD mentioned battles where the Germanic tribes hat to straighten out their inferior steel swords with their foot after hitting a Roman shield during combat. That type of sword (Viking or whatever) was inspired bu the Roman spatha which supplanted the gladius around the 3'rd century AD. The spatha was a longer thinner sword than the gladius better for cavalry. Been reading about this stuff....
Nevertheless, that sword is a pretty cool find. I'd be curious about the quality of the steel
One thing to remember about Roman accounts on anything is they viewed everyone and everything as inferior to themselves. Many of the "barbarian" cultures conquered by Rome were, in fact, more advanced. This includes the various Celtic cultures, who were widely acknowledged as master metal workers. However, pattern welding did develop from laminated blades that could indeed prove faulty due to forging flaws. Pattern welding was simply a means to hold the various layers of iron and steel together. Pattern Welding itself is nothing more than a way to make something usable out of crappy materials.
The theory that longer European swords developed from the Roman Spatha is a fairly recent argument that happens to be rather tenuous.There's really no logical basis for it. Longer single-handed swords were in use as early as the bronze age and many of the Celtic and Germanic tribes were using them before Rome adopted the Spatha.
The recovered artifact looks to date from the 7th-9th centuries, given what can be seen of the hilt design.
Last edited by Trooper224; 10-08-2018 at 12:46 AM.
We may lose and we may win, but we will never be here again.......
Perhaps rather than Roman influence it was parallel evolution? As steel making and working became more advanced, swords could be made longer and stronger which is an advantage in most combat scenarios of that day.
I thought it looked like a latter style sword as well. I wonder where they got the 500AD date?
After reading up on the sword history stuff, I re-watched "The Last Kingdom" on Netflix and paid attention the the weapons. Seems like they did a pretty good job of sourcing modern recreations of the weapons of the day. The tactics were interesting as well. I always wondered why axes of the day had such long handles (to get behind shield walls and slash). Was never really interested in Dark Ages/Medieval history, but now I kind of am.
What's up with finding swords in lakes and rivers? Was it some religious practice of the day to throw your prized sword into a lake or something? Maybe people of that day were less careful, as they drank alcoholic beverages rather then water, as water in those days was suspect?
Last edited by Tabasco; 10-08-2018 at 11:43 AM.
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