IMC 2018: Sessions
Session 1743: Sharp Thinking, II: Early Medieval Swords Put to the Test
Thursday 5 July 2018, 14.15-15.45
Sponsor: | Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden |
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Organiser: | Annemarieke Willemsen, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden |
Moderator/Chairs: | Sue Brunning, British Museum, London Nelleke IJssennagger, Faculteit der Letteren, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen / Archaeological & Medieval Collections, Frisian Museum, Leeuwarden |
Paper 1743-a | A Reassessment of Irish Sub-Roman Swords: Iron Age Introduction and Medieval Legacy (Language: English) Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Art History - Decorative Arts, Daily Life, Military History |
Paper 1743-b | Ulfberht Swords: Material, Development, and Use (Language: English) Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Art History - Decorative Arts, Daily Life, Military History |
Paper 1743-c | The Viking Sword: Development, Use, and Myth of a Glorified Weapon (Language: English) Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Art History - Decorative Arts, Daily Life, Military History |
Abstract | Early medieval swords have been both excavated and acquired for centuries, and have been popular study objects for their appearance, role in find assemblages, and find sites. In the last decades, more and more technical analyses have been carried out, to gain insight into the metallurgy and production process of these skilfully made weapons. This has put traditional ideas about the swords under strain, as sometimes the technical properties do not support ideas about typology, raw materials, or identifications of objects as 'anglo-saxon', 'viking' or even 'medieval' swords. |