Re: bronze age weapons

On Mon, 27 Feb 2006 10:39:48 +0100, "Uwe Müller"
<uwemueller@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


So most of the bronze age swords that we know of were not used as weapons in
the narrow sense of the word, while most of the iron age swords were
weapons.

That seems to confirm my conjecture.

But I could pose my question in a different way. At the Varus
battlefield near Osnabrueck there are several skulls on display which
show long, straight cuts like from a sword. When does that type of
wound become common? In the earlier times there were signs of fights
with clubs - what was called a trepanation, a round cut hole into the
skull which the patient actually survived - was probably not so much a
religious custom than the attempt by the local shamane to heal a wound
done by a club. I seem to remember that trepanations were common ca.
4000 BCE. When does that stop?

Where and when were swords invented anyway? In the Aegaean?

As to the size of the hilt, I have wondered too, if they could have been
used succesfully. Most of the prehistoric swords I have touched were only
big enough to be handled with 3 fingers, so a stout branch would serve me
better a s a weapon. OTOH they were certainly not made for my hands, and
there might have been quite a difference in size between me and bronze or
iron age populations.

They weren't sissies, no matter how small you make them. If they were
20cm shorter than us now, they still had hands like toilet seats, they
were mostly farmers.

fkoe

.

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