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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
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-aA Reassessment of Irish Sub-Roman Swords: Iron Age Introduction and Medieval Legacy
(Language: English)
Sam Hughes, Independent Scholar, Terenure
Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Art History - Decorative Arts, Daily Life, Military History
Paper 1743-bUlfberht Swords: Material, Development, and Use
(Language: English)
Ingo Petri, Museum und Park Kalkriese, Bramsche
Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Art History - Decorative Arts, Daily Life, Military History
Paper 1743-cThe Viking Sword: Development, Use, and Myth of a Glorified Weapon
(Language: English)
Florian Messner, Institut für Archäologien, Universität Innsbruck
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.