Bronze Age sword

Apa type swords, 17th century BC.

Bronze Age swords appear from around the 17th century BC, in the Black Sea region and the Aegean, evolving out of the dagger. They are replaced by the Iron Age sword during the early part of the 1st millennium BC.

The Bronze Age swords typically range from 50 to 90 cm in length (the maximum length feasible for such material), but with some longer exceptions.^{[citation needed]}

For most Bronze Age swords (except for those in China), copper was alloyed with around 10-12% tin, making the sword strong, but not brittle. This meant that the sword would bend, rather than break, in battle. To prevent over-bending, however, the blades were shaped as to get the maximum strength out of the material, while still affording balance and cutting/thrusting ability. This led to designs such as the leafbladed sword, with a thick but narrow blade near the hilt, and a broad but thin blade near the tip.^{[citation needed]} The edge was frequently hardened by hammering, in order to create a stronger cutting edge.^{[citation needed]}

Predecessors

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.

18th century BC Khopesh, Shechem, West Bank; blade decorations with electrum inlays.

The origins of the Canaanite "bronze sickle-sword", in Assyrian known as sappara, can be traced back to third millennium BCE Sumer.^{[citation needed]} The sickle-sword evolved from the epsilon or similar crescent shaped axes that were used in warfare^{[citation needed]}. 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.

Europe

the swords found together with the Nebra skydisk, ca. 1600 BC.

Further information: Bronze Age Europe

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. The antenna sword is a type of the Late Bronze Age, continued in early iron swords of the East Hallstatt and Italy region.

Swords from the Nordic Bronze Age from ca. the 13th century BC show characteristic spiral patterns.

China

Further information: Bronze Age China

Sword production in China is attested from the Bronze Age Shang Dynasty, from roughly 1200 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 where bronze was used in swords.

India

Further information: Ochre Coloured Pottery culture

Swords have been recovered in archaeological findings of the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture throughout the Ganges-Yamuna 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).

See also

• Håga Kurgan
• Hassle
• Yetholm-type shields
• Celtic sword
• Iron Age sword

References

• 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.
• Richard Francis Burton, The Book of the Sword (1883).
• John Evans, The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons and Ornaments, of Great Britain and Ireland (1881)[1]
• R.F. Tylecote, The early history of metallurgy in Europe (1987) [2]

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)