Sword of the Groatsetter

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The Groatsetter Sword (first published as Grotsetter ) is a late Bronze Age wooden sword discovered in the parish of St. Andrews on Orkney , Scotland .

Finding circumstances

The sword was found in June 1957 by Robert Petrie near the Groatsetter Farm (also Grotsetter or Grotster) southwest of Tankerness on Mainland about 50 m north of the Burn of Blown ( HY40NE 17 4931 0632 ) while cutting peat. The sword lay horizontally and upright in the peat at a depth of around 1.80 m. S. E. Durno from the Macaulay Institute analyzed the peat at the site, but could not determine any pollen , which is why he assumes a local disturbance. The anaerobic conditions and the tannin content of the peat led to the remarkable conservation status. The sword was acquired by the Scottish National Museum .

description

The approximately 70 cm long leaf-shaped blade made of holly wood (originally identified as yew ) was a replica of a late Bronze Age Ewart Park sword - a type from the period between 980 and 790 BC. The length of the sword is 79.5 cm, so it is comparatively long. The handle was 3 inches long. The blade with the typical diamond-shaped cross-section and a leaf-shaped outline has a circumference of 15.2 cm at the widest point and ends in a sharp point. The sword was used in the Oxford accelerator to 850–790 BC. Chr. Dated .

purpose

Although the blade of the weapon was in remarkably good condition, the handle was clearly worn or polished from repeated use. The sword was apparently used regularly. Its length is in the range of cutting swords, which are usually between 60 and 80 cm long, but these have a lenticular cross-section. Stevenson is considering using it as a patrix for making earthen casting molds , but considers this unlikely because the sword is longer than average and no exact comparisons made of bronze have been found. Wooden patrices are known, for example wooden spearheads and grommet axes have been found in Tobermore , County Derry . Caroline Earwood and Barry Molloy interpret the artifact as a training sword. According to Molloy, the blade is not damaged because the piece was not used for mock combat, but for practicing sequences of movements, and the unusual size results from the need to reach the weight of a brazen sword. Also Kristian Kristiansen comes from the use of wooden practice swords in the Bronze Age, while Ian Colquhoun assumes that in addition to wooden swords and real swords were used for training purposes, which the numerous loopholes could explain. The use of wooden training swords is documented according to Molloy from Roman times, and later also from medieval Ireland.

Julie Wileman, on the other hand, takes the view that the sword is not a practice sword, since the blade is undamaged and assumes that it was a cult or status symbol . The wear and tear shows that the sword was not specially made as an offering. It had been in use for some time and continued to be used after the handle broke off.

A comparable wooden sword in the form of a Gündlingen sword comes from Cappagh in County Kerry in Ireland .

Web links

literature

  • Caroline Earwood: Domestic wooden Artefacts in Britain and Ireland from Neolithic to Viking times. University of Exeter Press, Exeter 1993, ISBN 0859893898 , pp. 141, 276.
  • Robert B. K. Stevenson: A wooden Sword of the late Bronze Age. In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Volume 91, 1957/58, pp. 191-193, Plate XXIX / 1.
  • Julie Rosemary Wileman: Warfare in Northern Europe before the Romans: Evidence from Archeology. Pen and Sword, 2014, ISBN 9781473834712 , p. 120 ( limited preview on Google Books).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Robert B. K. Stevenson: A wooden sword of the late Bronze Age. In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Volume 91, 1957/58, p. 191.
  2. ^ National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Accession No. DL.62
  3. ↑ Caroline Earwood: Domestic wooden artefacts in Britain and Ireland from Neolithic to Viking times has 82.5 cm.
  4. ^ Robert B. K. Stevenson: A wooden sword of the late Bronze Age. In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Volume 91, 1957/58, p. 192.
  5. ↑ Caroline Earwood: Domestic wooden artefacts in Britain and Ireland from Neolithic to Viking times. University of Exeter Press, Exeter 1993, p. 276.
  6. ↑ OxA-6779, wood (Ilex), 2710 bp ± 50 (uncal.)
  7. ↑ a b Caroline Earwood: Domestic wooden artefacts in Britain and Ireland from Neolithic to Viking times. University of Exeter Press, Exeter 1993, p. 141.
  8. ↑ Caroline Earwood: Domestic wooden artefacts in Britain and Ireland from Neolithic to Viking times. University of Exeter Press, Exeter 1993, pp. 141, 276.
  9. ↑ a b Barry Molloy: Use-wear analysis and use-patterns of bronze age swords. In: Marion Uckelmann, Marianne Mödlinger (Ed.): Bronze Age Warfare: Manufacture and Use of Weaponry. BAR International Series 2255, Oxford 2011, British Archaeological Reports, p. 72.
  10. ^ Barry Molloy: Use-wear analysis and use-patterns of bronze age swords. In: Marion Uckelmann, Marianne Mödlinger (Ed.): Bronze Age Warfare: Manufacture and Use of Weaponry. BAR International Series 2255, Oxford 2011, British Archaeological Reports, note 27.
  11. ^ Kristian Kristiansen: The tale of the sword. Swords and swordfighters in Bronze Age Europe. In: Oxford Journal of Archeology. Volume 21, No. 4, 2002, p. 325.
  12. ^ Ian Colquhoun: Irish swords, use and abuse. In: Marion Uckelmann, Marianne Mödlinger (Ed.): Bronze Age Warfare: Manufacture and Use of Weaponry. British Archaeological Reports International Series 2255, Archaeopress, Oxford 2002, p. 56.
  13. ↑ Michael D. Reeve (Ed.): Vegetius' Epitoma rei militaris. Scriptorum classicorum bibliotheca Oxoniensis, Clarendon Press, Oxford 2003.
  14. ↑ T. Kinsella: The Tain. Oxford Paperbacks, Oxford 2002, pp. 104, 118, 119; quoted from Barry Molloy: Use-wear analysis and use-patterns of bronze age swords. In: Marion Uckelmann, Marianne Mödlinger (Ed.): Bronze Age Warfare: Manufacture and Use of Weaponry. BAR International Series 2255, 2011. Oxford, British Archaeological Reports, p. 72.
  15. ^ Julie Rosemary Wileman: Warfare in Northern Europe before the Romans: Evidence from Archeology. Pen and Sword, Barnsley 2014, p. 120.
  16. ^ J. Waddell: The Prehistoric Archeology of Ireland. Bray, Wordwell 2000, Fig. 131.5.

Coordinates: 58 ° 56 '33.5 "  N , 2 ° 52' 25.4"  W.