The Vintage News this month covered an interesting find out of Europe. Roman Novak, a citizen of the Czech republic, was 'mushroom hunting', a common tradition in that part of Europe, when he discovered something that was decidedly not fungal.
"It had just rained and I went mushroom-picking. As I went, I saw a piece of metal sticking out of some stones. I kicked it and found that it was a blade, part of a sword. I then dug some more to find a bronze axe." - Roman Novak
The axe was part of a larger find, the 'crown jewel' of which being a cast bronze sword with a blade broken just above the hilt.
Archaeologists have commented that the actual quality of the weapon is very poor, with x-rays showing bubbles inside the metal, creating weakness in the already soft bronze. Researchers suspect that the weapon was more than likely ceremonial more than functional in its day. The sword is beleived to have belonged to the Urnfield people, so named because of their practiced of burying their dead as cremated ashes in urns.
As for the weapon itself, it will be further analyzed by experts before being exhibited at both the Ethnographic Museum of Jesenicko and the Silesian Museum.
But before we leave it at that, its worth pointing out here a little bit more about the context of the sword existence.
First of all, as I have pointed out before, the sword was the first truly 'pure weapon' in human culture. nearly all other instruments of war before that had their roots in hunting or building tools. To buiold a sword is to prepare for war, or at least conflict, as a fundamental level. Spears and bows can hunt, axes can build, and even maces drawn their linage from rock mass weapons who's smashing power would become the hammers and mallets of skilled craftsmen centuries later. But the sword had no such counterpart, to display a sword, let alone to wield it, was to unambiguously proclaim some level of fighting prowess, or authority. Such a weapon was likely owned by someone with authority, or wealth, or both depending on the people.
The 14th century BCE is part of the dawn of civilization in Europe. The parent and grandparent tribes and people who would go on to become the dominant force in the world in less than 1000 years have their roots in these times.
Egypt is one of the major forces of the day, both militarily and economically. In its company are kingdoms such as Assyria, Athens, and the Mitanni, among others. Steel is still a millennium away, and man is building cities and reshaping the world now with bronze tools. The battle of Thermopalye is almost 1000 years into the future at this point, and one of the great engineering feats of the century was when Amenhotep III connected the red sea with the Nile river by way of a canal.
In fact, its estimated that as much as a third of the worlds population of the day might have been migratory, not claiming a 'homeland' in the popular sense of the world.
As something of a footnote to this, again for the sake of perspective, this sword is 500 years older than the great wall of China.
And , if you were to create a timeline from now (2020) to the approximate century the sword was made (1300BCE), and then to put a point on it showing when the first true European castles were built in Europe, that mark would be closer to you and to the sword by over 500 years (depending on who's definition of 'castle' your'e using).
His Lordship Ivo Blackhawk
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"Long Live the King!"
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