Sword-Wielding Scientists Show How Ancient Fighting Techniques Spread Across Bronze Age Europe
18th April 2020
Bronze swords have been found by the thousands in graves, rivers, and bogs all across Europe. But because the alloy is so soft—and easy to mangle compared with later iron weapons—historians have long wondered whether these swords were battlefield tools or mere status symbols. Now, a team of archaeologists has staged modern fights with bronze swords to measure the resulting microscopic dings and dents. Sword-on-sword contact was a “big part” of Bronze Age fighting, they found, done with specific, artful moves that spread from region to region over time.
Bronze is actually harder than you might believe. If you can find a hardware store that sells bronze piping (not as available now as it used to be) or a marine supply store that sells bronze fittings, check it out.
April 19th, 2020 at 13:04
Bronze tools are often used in areas that may have explosive mixtures – oil & gas production for example – because they don’t spark if dropped or scraped across other hard surfaces, yet they’re still strong enough to tighten bolts. Brass hammers are often used for the same reason, and they do deform (mushroom) a bit, but they’re pretty easy to grind flat.