Epee XIIe ou XIIIe surdimensionnée
Posté : ven. nov. 22, 2013 1:53 pm
Il y a quelques jours, je suis tombé sur cet article menbtionnant une épée du XIIe siècle mesurant 120 cms! Mes vieux démons de recherche de traces d'épée batarde antérieure à 1250 ont pris le dessus et je me suis emballé, mais j'ai écrit aux archéo finnois qui s'occupent de la découverte en question, et ils m'ont répondu en moins d'une semaine. Voici donc l'article qui a attiré mon attention
http://yle.fi/uutiset/thousand-year_old ... th/6934793
Une photo de l'épée (un fragment d'épée viking venat d'une crémation plus ancienne a été retrouvé aussi dans la tombe)
http://www.nba.fi/.../14965/miekat-laat ... tykuva.jpg
et la réponse des finnois
Mr Vanhatalo asked me to write you an answer regarding the sword from Janakkala, as I have studied the swordlore somewhat more.
The current dating of the grave is somewhere around the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century (1100-1200). This is based on the typology of finds (the sword, an axe, part of a spearhead) and also to the fact that this kind of inhumation graves were made in this area (Häme) from the 11th to the early 13th centuries. The Viking Age sword (Petersen Z-type) originates very probably from an older cremation, because it is broken and has fire patina on it. It was possibly taken from an older (Viking Age) grave and buried again. We too are waiting for the radiocarbon dating of the skeleton, which should be ready before summer. It wouldn’t be a big surprise if the radiocarbon dating pointed to the first half of the 13th century. But the 12th century is what we expect at this point.
The sword with the disc pommel is about 118 cm long. The length of the hilt is 15.5 cm. The grip is only 9 cm long, the pommel 5.5 cm, and thus the crossguard 1 cm wide. The width of the blade at the forte is 5 cm. The cross section is lenticular with a narrow fuller reaching more than 2/3 of the blade towards the tip.
The sword is definitely very long, but I wouldn’t call it a longsword, or hand-and-a-half sword. The hilt is not long enough with only a 9 cm grip. It resembles an Oakeshott type XI sword, although with an oversized blade. The weight and balance are good for one hand use. Maybe from horseback?
This actually isn’t a unique find in Finland! Already in 1920s archaeologist Dr. Sakari Pälsi excavated crusade period graves in Masku, Southwest Finland. In two of the graves he found a 115 cm long disc pommeled sword and a 121 cm long sword with an Oakeshott type E pommel. Both of these also have relatively small hilts. Archaeologist Mikko Moilanen has written a recent article (unfortunately in Finnish) of the sword graves. It can be found here:
http://kalmistopiiri.wordpress.com/2013 ... kkahaudat/
The 121 cm sword as drawn by Mikko Moilanen:
http://kalmistopiiri.files.wordpress.co ... _kuva5.jpg
We are still waiting for better quality x-rays, but we already know that there are remains of silver wire decoration in the blade of the disc pommel sword from Janakkala. In the Z-type sword there is some kind of inscription, but we haven’t been able to read it yet.
Ces gens sont extraordinaires!
http://yle.fi/uutiset/thousand-year_old ... th/6934793
Une photo de l'épée (un fragment d'épée viking venat d'une crémation plus ancienne a été retrouvé aussi dans la tombe)
http://www.nba.fi/.../14965/miekat-laat ... tykuva.jpg
et la réponse des finnois
Mr Vanhatalo asked me to write you an answer regarding the sword from Janakkala, as I have studied the swordlore somewhat more.
The current dating of the grave is somewhere around the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century (1100-1200). This is based on the typology of finds (the sword, an axe, part of a spearhead) and also to the fact that this kind of inhumation graves were made in this area (Häme) from the 11th to the early 13th centuries. The Viking Age sword (Petersen Z-type) originates very probably from an older cremation, because it is broken and has fire patina on it. It was possibly taken from an older (Viking Age) grave and buried again. We too are waiting for the radiocarbon dating of the skeleton, which should be ready before summer. It wouldn’t be a big surprise if the radiocarbon dating pointed to the first half of the 13th century. But the 12th century is what we expect at this point.
The sword with the disc pommel is about 118 cm long. The length of the hilt is 15.5 cm. The grip is only 9 cm long, the pommel 5.5 cm, and thus the crossguard 1 cm wide. The width of the blade at the forte is 5 cm. The cross section is lenticular with a narrow fuller reaching more than 2/3 of the blade towards the tip.
The sword is definitely very long, but I wouldn’t call it a longsword, or hand-and-a-half sword. The hilt is not long enough with only a 9 cm grip. It resembles an Oakeshott type XI sword, although with an oversized blade. The weight and balance are good for one hand use. Maybe from horseback?
This actually isn’t a unique find in Finland! Already in 1920s archaeologist Dr. Sakari Pälsi excavated crusade period graves in Masku, Southwest Finland. In two of the graves he found a 115 cm long disc pommeled sword and a 121 cm long sword with an Oakeshott type E pommel. Both of these also have relatively small hilts. Archaeologist Mikko Moilanen has written a recent article (unfortunately in Finnish) of the sword graves. It can be found here:
http://kalmistopiiri.wordpress.com/2013 ... kkahaudat/
The 121 cm sword as drawn by Mikko Moilanen:
http://kalmistopiiri.files.wordpress.co ... _kuva5.jpg
We are still waiting for better quality x-rays, but we already know that there are remains of silver wire decoration in the blade of the disc pommel sword from Janakkala. In the Z-type sword there is some kind of inscription, but we haven’t been able to read it yet.
Ces gens sont extraordinaires!