We’ve sent your comment to the author and he’s replied: “Hi Jack, Thanks for your comments – these are all excellent points. Interesting that while sacrifice is always the go-to explanation, it’s not particularly useful. This causes the objects to snap and distort. If so, why? With detecting in the open off limits between March and May, many amateurs looked closer to home during lockdown, and in July, the Daily Telegraph reported that a post-medieval belt hook, a quern and a medieval seal matrix were among some of the treasures uncovered in gardens by detectorists. … As it stands, the hoard includes about 29 damaged or broken swords and blades, 28 broken spearheads and a handle of a bronze bucket. The latest hoard has been removed from the site near Peebles in a large block of soil and taken to the National Museums Collection Centre in Edinburgh where further excavations and research will take place. Were the weapons involved in combat? There is still a lot of work to be done to assess the artefacts and understand why they were deposited.”. The destruction of objects and/or iconoclasm is historically often linked with acts of sacrifice or political unrest. The bronze objects were found buried half a metre underground. Khopesh. Bronze age sword pendant in copper alloy with silver and copper details. Lasting for approximately 1,700 years, it was preceded by the era of Neolithic Britain and was in turn followed by the period of Iron Age Britain. The sword was the predecessor of the Ewart Park sword. Buy the Bronze Age Sword ca 900 BC for sale in our UK shop. Tobias Mörtz of the Freie Universität Berlin has suggested these hoards might be considered “weapon sacrifices”. One of the most influential of the early swords that arose during the Bronze Age, the khopesh was an ancient Egyptian weapon that featured a … There the objects stayed until 1778 when a dredger pulled them up from the depths. In what archaeologists are calling the “find of a lifetime,” a horde of Late Bronze Age weapons has been discovered at a Scottish construction site. Molten Bronze is dedicated to reproducing tools, weapons and artefacts from the Bronze Age. Metal detectorists, it’s fair to say, have had a good lockdown. Remember, the Bronze Age lasted several centuries to over a thousand years depending on location. Were they kept by the people who destroyed the weapons? ⚔️ Medieval Shop-Swords. As research continues into this hoard it is hoped that we may be able to better unravel some of the answers to these questions. Antenna swords (COPPER) (Western Uttar Pradesh) 22nd – 19thC 78cm TL. Last month it emerged that amateur treasure hunters had unearthed dozens of rare finds in their back gardens while restrictions kept them at home. Obviously this is ongoing research and I’m still formulating ideas, but it’s really useful to have lots of debate and discussion like this, which is why I wanted to put this blog post out there. This sword was found at the Mycenae Acropolis. How were they destroyed? An astonishing late bronze age collection of swords, axes, spearheads and bracelets discovered in east London is to go on show in the capital next year.. The fact that they were deliberately damaged at some effort points to a desire to prevent them being used. Length 68cm, 700g, NAUE II Classic Aegean straight edged blade used throughout the ancient world, from the Aegean to Europe. But in the real world, on June 21, 2020, an amateur metal detectorist uncovered an exceptionally rare Bronze Age treasure hoard in a field near the village of Peebles, about 22 miles (36 kilometers) south of Edinburgh. As he received such strong signals from the earth around the object, he reported the find to the Treasure Trove unit. Who was involved in these practices? "The history of the sword is the history of mankind", a bold statement by Sir Richard Burton in the late nineteenth century, yet one that holds a ring of truth to it. Bronze Age Techniques. U.K. - 020 3603 9234. The Duddingston Loch hoard certainly suggests sacrifice. The concept of ‘ritual’ is very problematic – ‘sacrifice’ poses similar issues, but it is just one theory I’ve applied influenced by the specific condition and context in which the weapons were found. “Every day there were new objects coming out which changed the context of the find, every day we learned something new. Length 82.5cm, 1000g, Could the “sculls and other human remains” that were dredged at the same time be the enemies that were killed? Avalable spring 2016, when I have had a chance to carve a new stone mold. The only complete sword have been bent in half. Bronze age Canaanite 13th century BCE sword (on the left), and … I was over the moon, shaking with happiness,” he said. Bronze Age communities may have been deliberately sacrificing their weapons, perhaps as offerings to the gods. A metal detectorist has discovered a hoard of Bronze Age artefacts in the Scottish Borders which experts have described as "nationally significant". He said: “It’s the stuff that appears more humdrum that actually tends to be more archeologically important.”. The unit’s head, Emily Freeman, said: “This is a nationally significant find – so few bronze age hoards have been excavated in Scotland. The archeologists found the sword, still in its scabbard, which had been adorned with straps, buckles and chariot-wheel axle caps, alongside remnants of a decorative “rattle pendant” that would have hung off the horse’s harness – the first to be found in Scotland and only the third in the UK. A deliberately bent and broken sword blade. Sword dated from 900BC among ‘nationally significant’ items found by Mariusz Stepien. Wilberton. Peter Reavill, a finds liaison officer from Shropshire, said: “With so many people spending so much more time in their gardens, there have been some really interesting finds. Another explanation for this is that it could be a war booty taken from an enemy; in this scenario the objects may have been destroyed so that the enemies could not use them in the afterlife. Whether these actions were intended as a sacrifice or to scrap the objects, it cannot be denied that depositing them in the lake was a significant abandonment of material. Mariusz Stepien, 44, was searching a … FIND 1000's of Antiques, Art, Vintage & RARE Collectors' items offered for sale by antique centres, dealers and collectors. Arslantepe (Arsenical Bronze), Malatya Turkey 34th- 31st C, 62 cm TL. SC 011130, A legacy in fossils: celebrating the life and work of Stan Wood, Twisted Gold and Alpine Axeheads: Exploring Scotland’s Connections with Europe, Prehistoric crafts and identities: Special swords, glittering gold and pots for the people. Among items also pulled from the ground after Mariusz Stepien’s initial find in a field near Peebles was a sword dated from 1000 to 900BC. The original was found in the River Thames at Chiswick (West London). Likewise, the “sculls and other human bones” and animals remains never made their way into our collections. Other hoards like this have been found elsewhere in Britain, such as a similar hoard of burnt and broken weapons from Peelhill, South Lanarkshire. The Bronze Age Lost and Found: An Ancient Spearhead Carried into the Battle of Flodden? Total length of sword 64.5cm without pommel. Menu. Bronze swords were first used as weapons around 3,000BC in Turkey and similar weapons were then used in the fabled Trojan War. Published on: 27 April 2020. Or could they still be at the bottom of Duddingston Loch? Length 63cm, 600g, Click on the image for a closer look. This hoard sparks many questions for archaeologists. The technology spread throughout Europe over … The obvious questions are how and why did the weapons end up in a lake? Monday-Friday: 8-12h-13-17h. For completeness sake here is a reference list of the weapons used to create the graphic: Maikop Klady Russian (Arsenical Bronze), Caucuses, Novosvobodnaya, 36th -34th C 63 cm TL. Blade length 39.5cm Fully finished and hilted, £290 P&P £10 (within uk) Bronze Trilobal Arrowheads. In fact, the hoard was the first donation, received in 1781. The damaging of weapons can also be a malicious act, done to the weapons of a defeated foe so that they may never be used again. 1. Bronze Age Sword 900-700 BC River Thames.JPG 2,973 × 786; 1 MB Bronze age sword hilt.JPG 3,264 × 2,448; 1.34 MB Bronze Age swords (closeup), museum Zrenjanin.jpg 956 × 889; 229 KB These were deposited in the lake at Duddingston Loch in Edinburgh. Metal detectorist Mariusz Stepien at the excavation site near Peebles. Treasure Trove, which is overseeing the recovery and assessment of the find, said the soil had preserved the leather and wood found among the items, allowing experts to trace the straps that connected the rings and buckles together to make the harness, something that has “never been seen before in Britain”. (new and improved ) Classic leaf shaped blade from the late Bronze Age. Settings. Neil Oliver makes a Bronze Age style sword using traditional methods. Length 45cm, £190 for the finished blade or £290 finished and hilted (gold band optional) P&P £15 (within UK). It’s a bit like the term ‘ritual’. The Bronze Age weapons from Duddingston Loch, The King’s Flints: New Light on Prehistoric Stone and Bronze artefacts from Denmark, Rethinking the Dark Age: the multiple voices of early medieval Britain. Sacrifice or scrap? Duration: 3 minutes This clip is from. Bronze Age swords appeared from around the 17th century BC, in the Black Sea region and the Aegean, as a further development of the dagger. The possibility that they are the weapons of a defeated foe is something that has also crossed my mind and would fit into these ideas. British Museum says metal detectorists found 1,311 treasures last year. Mariusz Stepien at the site near Peebles where he made the first find. Unfortunately, there aren't any ready made production replicas of these particular ancient swords available in our price range.