Iron Age sword

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19th century illustration of Hallstatt swords
19th century illustration of Hallstatt swords
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Swords made of iron (as opposed to bronze) appear from the Early Iron Age (ca. 12th century BC), but do not become widespread before the 8th century BC.

Early iron swords were not comparable to later steel blades. The iron was not quench hardened although often containing sufficient carbon, but workhardened just like bronze by hammering. This made them comparable or only slightly better in terms of strength and hardness to bronze swords. So they could still bend during use, rather then spring back into shape. But the easier production, and the better availability of the raw material allowed for larger scale production.

Eventually smiths learned that by adding an amount of carbon (added during smelting in the form of charcoal) in the iron, they could produce an improved alloy (now known as steel). By quenching and tempering, (quenching makes the steel hard and brittle, tempering removes the brittleness), swords could be made that would suffer much less damage, and would spring back into shape if bend. It took a long time however until this was done consistantly, and even until the end of the early medieval period, many swords were still unhardened iron. Several different methods of swordmaking existed in ancient times, including, most famously, pattern welding. Over time, different methods developed all over the world.

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[edit] History

The Proto-Celtic Hallstatt culture (8th century BC) figured among the early users of iron swords. During the Hallstatt period, the same swords were made both in bronze and in iron. At the end of the Hallstatt period, around 600-500BC, swords were replaced with short daggers. The La Tene culture reintroduced the sword, which then very different from the traditional shape and construction from the bronze age and early iron age, and much more like the later swords that developed from them.

The iron versions of the Scythian/Persian Acinaces appears from ca. the 6th century BC. In Classical Antiquity and the Parthian and Sassanid Empires in Iran, iron swords were common. The Greek xiphos and the Roman gladius are typical examples of the type, measuring some 60 to 70 cm. The late Roman Empire introduced the longer spatha (the term for its wielder, spatharius, became a court rank in Constantinople).

Chinese steel swords make their appearance from the 3rd century BC Qin Dynasty, although earlier iron swords are also known from the Zhou dynasty. The Chinese Dao (刀 pinyin dāo) is single-edged, sometimes translated as sabre or broadsword, and the Jian (劍 pinyin jiàn) double edged.

The Roman Iron Age Germanic sword (from ca. 1st c. AD) is based on the spatha and evolves into the Viking sword in the 8th century.


[edit] Celtic swords

With the spread of the La Tene culture at the 5th century BC, iron swords had completely replaced bronze all over Europe. These swords eventually evolved into f.e. the the Roman gladius and spatha, and the Greek xiphos and the Roman Iron Age Germanic sword.

There are two kinds of Celtic sword. The most common is the "long" sword, which usually has an abstract anthropomorphic hilt made from organic material, such as wood, bone, or horn. These swords also usually had an iron plate in front of the guard that was shaped to match the scabbard mouth. The second type is a "short" sword with either an abstract or a true anthropomorphic hilt of copper alloy.

Scabbards were generally made from two plates of iron, and suspended from a belt made of iron links. Some scabbards had front plates of bronze rather than iron. This was more common on Insular examples than elsewhere; only a very few Continental examples are known.

Polybius (2.33) reports that the Gauls at the Battle of Telamon (224 BC) had inferior iron swords which bent at the first stroke and had to be straightened with the foot against the ground (a practice also known from the Eyrbyggja saga). Plutarch (Camillus) likewise reports on the inferiority of Gaulish iron. These reports have puzzled historians, since by that time the Celts had a centuries long tradition of iron workmanship[citation needed]. Celtic studies scholars have speculated that the Greek observers misunderstood ritual acts of sword-bending, which may have served to "decommission" the weapon[citation needed]. Bent swords have been found among deposits of objects presumably dedicated for sacred purposes[citation needed]. However, from metallurgical analysis performed on celtic swords from various sources, it appears that celtic swords were only work hardened and none were quench hardened to take the full advantage of the potential hardness of the steel, eventhough they frequently contain enough carbon to be hardened (in particular the swords made from Noric steel). Quite probably this is because tempering wasn't known. After quenching, steel is very brittle, and will break like glass. Tempering is heating the steel after quenching at a lower temperature to remove the brittleness, while keeping most of the hardness.

[edit] Greek swords

Ancient Greek terms for swords include:

Terms attested in Mycenaean Greek, thus establishing continuity from the Bronze Age sword, are xiphos (Mycenaean qsiphos, attested as qi-si-pe-e) and phasganon (Mycenaean phasgana, attested as pa-ka-na).

[edit] Literature

  • C. R. Cartwright, Janet Lang, British Iron Age Swords And Scabbards, British Museum Press (2006), ISBN 0714123234.
  • Andrew Lang, Celtic Sword Blades, in Man, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (1907).
  • J. M. de Navarro, The Finds from the Site of La Tène: Volume I: Scabbards and the Swords Found in Them, London: The British Academy, Oxford University Press (1972).
  • Radomir Pleiner, The Celtic Sword, Oxford: Clarendon Press (1993).
  • Graham Webster, A Late Celtic Sword-Belt with a Ring and Button Found at Coleford, Gloucestershire, Britannia, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (1990).

[edit] See also

[edit] External links