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Archaeologists find 3000-year-old sword, exceptionally well preserved

newsingermany.com

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Re: Archaeologists find 3000-year-old sword, exceptionally well preserved

#11

Post by cheese_van »

Apreche wrote: post #3

What kind of news site is this? Seems fake. Not reported anywhere else.

Not fake but rather breaking news. Bavarian State Office for the Care of Monuments official press release was yesterday, the 14th: https://www.blfd.bayern.de/mam/blfd/presse/pi_bronzezeitlich...

But what a beautiful sword!

Re: Archaeologists find 3000-year-old sword, exceptionally well preserved

#12

Post by lordleft »

It's funny to think that the fantasy/speculative fiction trope of "precursor civilization that has advanced tech" was probably grounded in the historical memory of people happening upon ruins, weapons and artifacts of extraordinary craftsmanship.

Re: Archaeologists find 3000-year-old sword, exceptionally well preserved

#14

Post by mc32 »

cheese_van wrote: post #11
Apreche wrote: post #3

What kind of news site is this? Seems fake. Not reported anywhere else.

Not fake but rather breaking news. Bavarian State Office for the Care of Monuments official press release was yesterday, the 14th: https://www.blfd.bayern.de/mam/blfd/presse/pi_bronzezeitlich... But what a beautiful sword!

It is! Why is the hilt at the end instead of the end of the blade?

Re: Archaeologists find 3000-year-old sword, exceptionally well preserved

#15

Post by automatic6131 »

lordleft wrote: post #12

It's funny to think that the fantasy/speculative fiction trope of "precursor civilization that has advanced tech" was probably grounded in the historical memory of people happening upon ruins, weapons and artifacts of extraordinary craftsmanship.

I think it might be a general bias in the human psyche. When you're born, you're utterly dependent on the gods that are your parents (and extended village, to a greater or lesser extent) and this has selected for a bias in the human brain that expresses itself as "older people good, oldest people better".

I base this only on finding the trope of "precursor civilisation/society with the best tech" in literature from across the globe.

Re: Archaeologists find 3000-year-old sword, exceptionally well preserved

#16

Post by sephlietz »

mc32 wrote: post #14
cheese_van wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not fake but rather breaking news. Bavarian State Office for the Care of Monuments official press release was yesterday, the 14th: https://www.blfd.bayern.de/mam/blfd/presse/pi_bronzezeitlich... But what a beautiful sword!

It is! Why is the hilt at the end instead of the end of the blade?

With the caveat that I'm not an expert, that's the pommel (hilt is the entire handle) and it is at the bottom to prevent the sword from slipping out of your hand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilt

Re: Archaeologists find 3000-year-old sword, exceptionally well preserved

#17

Post by automatic6131 »

What stands out to me is the pommel with the large handhold. That makes me think that it's a slashing sword, not a stabbing one. Then there's the fact that it's all metal, unlike how most ancient and medieval swords which were made with an handle of organic material around the tang of the blade. Probably not intended (ever) for use in fighting? Since it doesn't have a replacable handle.

Re: Archaeologists find 3000-year-old sword, exceptionally well preserved

#18

Post by Archelaos »

The article is somewhat sensationalistic. Finding an octagonal type bronze sword ("Achtkantschwert" in German) from that period is rare, but we have quite a couple of them. Since bronze does not rust, the conditions of such swords are often quite good (and typically far better than that of medieval iron swords, for instance).

Here is a map of the distribution of octagonal-hilted swords in Europe:

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Map-showing-the-distribu...

As you can easily see, there are two clearly separated areas where these swords were found.

The following article (PDF, in German, including an English abstract and some nice photos) explores the possible (dis-)connection between the two areas:

https://goedoc.uni-goettingen.de/bitstream/handle/1/8646/pz....

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