Bronze Age swords appear from around the 17th century BC (depending on location), evolving out of the dagger.
Before bronze, stone (flint, obsidian f.e.) was used as primary material for cutting edged tools and weapons. Stone is however very fragile, and therefore not practical to be used as swords. With the introduction of copper, and eventually bronze, the daggers could be made longer, and evolved into swords. The first swords appear in the Aegean and Near east, and as time goes by the use of swords spreads out to other parts of the world.
The length of bronze age swords ranges from roughly 50 to 90cm, with some longer exceptions. This was the ideal length for the material. Any longer and they would bend easily unless they were impractically thick and heavy. Longswords were not practical for combat until the invention of materials, such as steel, which are stronger for their weight than bronze. As bronze is an alloy between two metals, the strength could be optimized by adding more or less tin. More would make the bronze stronger, but also more brittle. For most bronze age swords (except for China), an alloy was used with around 10-12% tin, which is strong, but not brittle. This means that the sword would not be likely to break in use, but could bend. To prevent the latter, the blades were very cleverly designed to get the maximum strength with the material, while still giving the blade great balance and thrusting and/or cutting ability. This led to designs as the leafbladed sword, with thick but narrow blade near the hilt, and a broad, but thin blade near the tip. The edge was frequently hardened, and hammered to a hollow edge, which gives a very sharp, yet strong cutting edge. This makes the bronze age sword a great example of very advanced engineering in early times.
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Evolution
Metal bladed weapons were manufactured from the Bronze Age onwards, continuing the earlier tradition of flint blades. The earliest swords were found at Arslantepe, Turkey, dating to ca. 3300 BC[citation needed]. Sword finds are however very rare until around 2300BC.
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 narrow bladed "rapier" swords optimized for thrusting from the Middle Bronze Age to the typical leaf-shape blades in the Late Bronze Age. However, their evolution depends highly on location. Below follows a short description of the types of bronze swords in the important regions across the world.
Near east
In the near east, some of the earliest swords are found. Despite this, shorter daggers remain the most common, and sword length weapons from this area are less common. A common feature on swords from this region is the frame hilt, in which hilt plates frequently of wood (ebony) or ivory were glued in place. Another typical feature are "eared" pommels.
The sickle-sword
The origins of the Canaanite "bronze sickle-sword", in Assyrian known as sappara, can be traced back to third millennium BCE Sumer. The sickle-sword played a significant role in ancient Middle Eastern warfare. It isaproximately 50-60 cm in length with a blade finishing in a curved crescent shape. The sickle-sword evolved from the epsilon or similar crescent shaped axes that were used in warfare. The Egyptians of the 18th Dynasty(ca. 1600 BCE) used new weapons technologies borrowed from the Hyksos, including the general shape of the "sickle-sword", which characterized much of the New Kingdom period. The Egyptian name of the Canaanite sickle-sword is Khopesh. Later the sickle-sword evolved into what is known as the Falcata, adopted by Alexander the Great for its effectiveness.
Aegean
To be added
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, on the British Isles 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. The bronze age style sword and construction methods die out at the end of the early iron age (Hallstatt D)), around 600-500BC, when swords are replaced by daggers in most of Europe. An exception is the Xiphos from Greece, which continues to evolve for several more centuries.
The Naue Type II Swords which spread from Southern Europe into the Mediterranean, have been linked by Robert Drews with the Late Soic rocks Bronze Age collapse.[1]
Swords from the Nordic Bronze Age from ca. the 13th century BC show characteristic spiral patterns.[2]
China
Sword production in China is attested from the Bronze Age Shang Dynasty (1600 BC – 1046 BC). The technology for bronze swords reached its highpoint during the Warring States period and Qin Dynasty(221 BC – 207 BC). 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.
India
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]
Absence in some cultures
Not every culture that used bronze also developed swords. The steppe tribes, for example, 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 Macuahuitl), they did not develop bronze swords.
Notes
- ^ The Naue Type II Sword
- ^ Schwerter -Spiralen
- ^ F.R. Allchin, 111-114
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.
See also
External links
- The Bronze Age Rapier by Dr Barry Molloy (2005)
- 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)
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