Sword Sunday #16: The oldest sword ever found.

Its one thing to say we have found an example of  'the most' of something. Be it the longest, the tallest, the sharpest...whatever the metric may be, the mental framework that is the human psyche is drawn to the idea of the extremes, or the outliers. 

So, as easy as it is to talk about Vittoria Dall'Armellina, a PhD student from Ca' Foscari University in Italy finding 'the oldest sword known to man', the phrasing robs the discovery of much of its scope. 

 Vittoria Dall'Armellina on left, the sword bottom center of frame. 
Photo: CNN Newsource

First of all, Vittoria should be commended for her discovery. Rather than a jungle-exploring archaeologist in the flavor of Indiana Jones, this  aspiring doctoral researcher noticed something out of place while visiting Saint Lazarus monastery, in Italy. One of the artifacts owned by the monastery was noted simply as a 'medieval sword', and held little more in the way of explanation. But Vittoria recognized that the shape, style, and construction of the blade were all techniques that were considered ancient even during the earliest parts of the 'middle ages'. Seeking help from the University of Padua, Vittoria researched the design of the weapon, as well as having it chemically analysed in order to scientifically measure the weapon's true age.

Their research, which took two years and became part of her doctoral work, put a number (or at least a range of numbers) in answer to the final question.

While to the modern eyes the weapon is barely anything to look at at just over 17 inches long, and probably not more than a pound if total weight (exact numbers were not widely published at time of this righting), its age is staggering. 

The 5,000-year-old sword has no visible inscriptions, embellishments or distinctive features.
(from"The Daily Mail")

The "object is made of arsenic bronze, an alloy of copper and arsenic alloy. The alloy was typically used between the end of the 4th and beginning of the 3rd millennium BC." 

That would make the sword roughly 5000 years old. 

To put that in some perspective:

• The french Musketeers (depicted in the famous telling 'The three Musketeers" and "The man in the iron mask") were founded in 1622, about 400 years ago. 
• The Battle of Hastings, the major land engagement that decided control of England, was in 1066, just over 954 years ago.
• The "Frankish Kingdom", the first unification of what we know today as France, took place in roughly 500AD, 1520 years ago. 
• Emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Roman senate in the middle of March, 44BC, 2060 years ago. 
• The Battle of Thermopylae took place in Greece on 20 August, 480 BC, 2500 years ago. 
• Sun Tzu, the man traditionally credited with writing 'the art of war', one of the oldest essays on strategy and combat in written history, is believed to have been born in 544BC,  2560 years ago. 
• The Great Pyramid of Giza, tomb of Pharaoh Khufu, Was believed to have been completed in 2566BC, 4586 years ago. 

If you go all the way back to 3000BC, 5020 years ago [the approximate age of the weapon]: 

• That is the end of the Neolithic period. 
• Djer, the third pharaoh to reign over a united Egypt has just Assented the throne. 
• The concept of Steel, let alone any manufacture of it, is still 1000 years into the future. 
• Stonehenge is only entering its second phase of construction, and won't start to look anything like what we see today for another 1100 years or more. 

When this sword was made,  some of the defining moments of the history of civilization, evens ones we consider ancient today, were as far into the future as the ISS is from the Fall of the Roman Empire. 

This sword is not merely "old", it has the fingerprints from the dawn of civilization on it. 

#Swordsunday is intended as a fun and educational series of posts for the enjoyment of readers. 

His Lordship Ivo Blackhawk

Kingdom of Ansteorra
"Long Live the King!"