Asset number
1204728001
Description
Remains of an iron sword and part of its copper-alloy scabbard. A length of only 39 mm of the blade survives, corroded and flaked, though iron corrosion on the scabbard plate suggests that more of it was found. It has been about 36 mm wide. The handle, however, is complete and in good condition, and is 138 mm long. It is made of eight cast components (the only one analysed is brass) slotted, in turn, over an iron tang, the top of which is burred over the pommel. The guard is 39 mm wide and 25 mm high, with identical decoration front and back: two bulbous lobes in high relief, springing from the centre, with a short ill-defined vertical rib (or lentoid shape) between and above them. The end of the guard is rectangular in section, its edge is defined by two ribs, and on one side it is very worn. Above the edge, the ends of the guard are each decorated with three vertical ribs flaring slightly at the top, with one end much more worn than the other. The grip has five components, three ribbed washers separating two slightly waisted tubes - the whole is 73 mm long, each tube is 29 mm long and the central washer is 23 mm diameter. The pommel is 42 mm high and 39 mm wide, and is decorated in high relief with, on each side, two rather flattened lobes below a central domed boss. Between the lobes is a short vertical rib or ridge that is more clearly defined on one side than the other. Above the boss, on each side and clasped by the edges of the pommel, is yet another separate cast component. Surmounted by a decorated button, through which the top of the tang protrudes, its rounded stem has transverse ribs, giving the appearance of a threaded bolt. The decoration round the button is worn but includes at least two lentoid shapes arranged diagonally, with their tips touching at the top. The surviving piece of scabbard is the upper part of the back plate and its suspension loop, with the upper loop plate and part of the lower loop plate; the whole being 259 mm long. The scabbard plate fragment is 175 mm long and 36 mm wide, with a slightly rounded, or perhaps crudely squared, mouth and hammer facets on the inside surface. The edges are damaged, but one edge is smooth and unchipped for about 65 mm at the top, suggesting that the back plate was overlapped by the front. At the bottom, the back plate is broken at the rivet that secured the bottom of the upper loop plate. That rivet has a large rectangular washer underneath (14 x 10 mm) that might well have been inserted to help to secure the two ends of a plate cracked in antiquity. The suspension loop is 30 mm long on the outside and 23 mm wide, with bordering grooves that continue round the adjoining rectangular parts of the loop plates, defining 58 mm lengths on each side. These short rectangular plates have each been secured to the back plate of the scabbard by a rivet with a curiously elongated head (13 mm long and about 5 mm wide), which is tripartite, tubular in the middle and rounded at the ends. Beyond the rectangular panels, the loop plates narrow sharply to 5 mm wide and are decorated with two central bands defined by grooves with mainly diagonal notching. The upper loop plate, 180 mm long, terminates in a short rectangular panel defined by a pair of notched bands at the bottom and a single notched band at the top. The top has been cut at an angle to suit the shape of the scabbard mouth. The top of the loop plate is attached by three rivets with markedly protruding heads, two in the ends of the rectangular panel and the third in the triangular area below. The surviving part of the lower loop plate matches the upper, but it terminates at a repair, or perhaps an original join, and is only 5
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