Sword Sunday #48 - new mushrooms, and an really old sword

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!"

Sword Sunday #47 - A Sword, a box, an archive, and an epic journey.

Our story starts with a  box. More specifically a shipping container, this one in California. Very little is known about the box or its contents, only that it was sold for $100 at auction, most likely after being abandoned. 

Inside, we known almost nothing of what the buyer found. 

Except for one item. 

About 3 feet long, with a black scabbard and gold hand-guard, the sword was intact, and clearly modern, but had no name on it. The buyer, from what we know did some homework, and discovered the weapon’s heritage, and part of its story.

It was a US Marine Corp Recruitment Command Sabre, a weapon given to the top student in each of the command's regular classes. While nowhere near as renowned, or storied as the Corps officer saber, the weapon and its heritage still were significant to those who received it.  For several years, the buyer, who’s name is now lost to history, looked for the sword's original owner, but had no luck. Finally, he turned to the best person he could think of.

His barber.

But this isn’t just any barber. Scott Marty is a retired Marine, who served from 1988 to 1992, and was deployed to Desert Storm. Following his time in uniform, Scott ultimately opened Scott’s Barber Salon, and it was in this capacity that he was known to the original buyer. For the first time in years, the sword was now in the hands of a Marine, and one who who would set out on his own personal quest reunite it with its rightful owner. 

That search took 15 years, and would ultimately include conversations with his wife, friends, family, and even friends of family.

“Over the years, we have talked to recruiters and other military people and (had) not been able to find him,” Marty’s wife, Rietta Morris-Marty, said.

What they knew, or rather what they were able to piece together, was that the sword was given to a recruiter who had worked out of Oakland California, and that it had been stolen. Anything beyond that was wild speculation at that point. 

But the next, and critical break came when a friend of Scott’s made a stop in Virginia.

Marine Corps Base Quantico (Wikipedia entry), Virginia is arguably the heart of the corps. Home of the Officer Candidate School, where all marines officers start their training, it also contains  Marine Corps Air Facility Quantico, home of HMX-1 (the Marine helicopter squadron that is tasked with transport of the president of the united states), Marine Corps Research Center, which helps do initial testing of new combat technologies for marine infantry and vehicles, and one of the original locations for the Marine Corps Martial Arts program. Considered the “Crossroads of the Marine Corps”, the base is also home to National Museum of the Marine Corps, as well as various libraries and archives of assignments, names, and equipment (some public, some restricted based by clearances). 

The family friend was able to take some of the information off of the sword, as well as what Scott had been able to learn in his own time, and touch base with some of the archivists at Quantico. Leveraging the resources of the old base, they were able to do in a few hours what Scott and his friends had not been able to do in 15 years. 

His name is Wayne Steinberg, 62, and currently he’s the Facility, Fleet, Safety and Security manager for US Foods in Phoenix, Arizona. But from 1976 to 1987, he was a Marine, including seeing combat in Grenada, an experience he does not discuss at all. 

“When I attended Recruiters School back in 1981, I was awarded the sword for being No. 1 in my class,” said Steinberg, “And in 1997, I was living in Daly City at the time, my apartment was broken into and it was stolen, along with all the ribbons and badges I had.”

Every year since then, he had called the Daly city police to ask if they had recovered,t he sword, and the heartbreaking answer was always the same. But now, the sword would returned to its rightful owner, after almost a quarter century separated from the man. 

Wayne Steinberg immediately offered to pay the full cost of shipping the blade, but it was  Rietta Morris-Marty who insisted that that would not do at all. 

“She said it was our responsibility to make sure it gets back into his hands properly,” Marty said of his wife’s reaction. 

“Marines don’t do that,” Rita added when asked about the prospect of just mailing the weapon home. 

They had seen this through for a decade and a half, now they would finish what they had started. 

On July 26, 2020, at a private ceremony with no press, Scott Marty returned the MCRC sabre to Wayne Steinberg. The location was a veterans memorial in Anthems. In attendance, members of the U.S. State Department,  local Veterans of Foreign Wars post members, the Maricopa County sheriff and one deputy, and a group Steinberg works with, Youth for Troops.

“[Steinberg] paused . . . and he moved forward and I asked him if he was Wayne Steinberg,” said Marty, adding that once the case holding the sword was handed over, Steinberg never let it go.

The MCRC sabre is now back in the ownership of the man who first earned it back in 1981. It is described as being in good condition, and Wayne has expressed commence gratitude for its return.

For Scott Marty, the after effects of his adventure were felt all the way back home. Many of his customers are military or law enforcement, and when told of the sword and its journey, “People have been moved to tears,” he explains. 

Note: This story is draws heavily on the veterans day article written by Todd R. Hansen for the Daily Republic.  Please see his full article for more details of the story. 

His Lordship Ivo Blackhawk
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"Long Live the King!"

Sword Sunday #46 "‘What the heck?" Amateur archaeologist finds a sword...and a lot more

While most archaeologists are professionals (or students there too) in their fields, there is also a huge number of  average people who enjoy digging for artifacts in their spare time. Carrie Hadaway, of Plymouth Massachusetts is one such person, and one reporter went so far as to say she is is basically living on top of ancient artifacts.

Included in her finds are stone tools that have been described as not being native to her local area, as arrowheads that reportedly represent several different indigenous tribes known to the area in the pre-colonial period.  

But arguably, one of the more facilitating finds of late was, (no surprise to my regular readers) what looks to be a 150 year old practice sword that was likely made by a local blacksmith. 

“I dug down a couple of feet and there it was,” she told the local paper. “I grabbed it and held it over my head and yelled, ‘Excalibur!’ I have a different vibe than most people. I was running around yelling how I found a sword, and my kids are like, ‘Yeah, Mom. Whatever.’”

Now, while details photos of the sword are not widely available at the moment, what we do see is enough to inform about the weapon. 

The 'blade" is round, indicating a practice weapon, or perhaps a competitive fencing blade for a college student or athlete of the day. The metalwork is not complex, but is also not amateurish either. The corners and joins look to be clean, well joined, and consistent. it is definitively a later period design, clearly mimicking a lightweight style of blade, something we would modernly call a rapier. 

His Lordship Ivo Blackhawk
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"Long Live the King!"