Ah, those Italian girls...
Posted on 03/26/2020 5:37:04 AM PDT by SMARTY
"A doctoral student in Italy discovered an ancient 5,000-year-old sword in a Venetian monastery..."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I can't see where they mentioned the alloy or the primary ore.
If that’s a Sword then who ever carried it must have been a midget. It looks more like a dagger.
There appears to be some green corrosion in one of the pictures. this would indicate that it could be bronze. That’s consistent with the stated age of the sword as being well before the Iron Age. An iron alloy would likely not have green corrosion.
People were smaller back then. Except for the Giants, of course.
One of the surprises is that the weapon is made of arsenical copper, an alloy of copper and arsenic used about 5,000 years ago, before true bronze was invented by alloying copper and tin.
Short life expectancy for swordsmiths in those days!
I remember going to the Cleve. museum and looking at the armor there. It's a great collection and I am always amazed that the suits of armor are so small.
What is also strange, the two-handed swords and hand-and-a-half swords are very long. How could small people wield such huge weapons?
Halberds were also very long and they looked heavy, too.
I think the word ‘sword’ is a misnomer. It is clearly a dirk or a ‘short’ sword similar to a wakizashi type blade sometimes worn by women of stature in feudal japan.
Anyone see The Lady of The Lake lately?
Are you saying the man that wore this was a girly man? Lol.
Ah, those Italian girls...
This was posted a few times recently. I remember the hottie and the monk. He is smiling whiling holding a hard ridged sword.
“If that’s a Sword then who ever carried it must have been a midget. “
If you want an interesting reality check and confirmation that we are living in a golden age, go to any museum displaying uniforms and armor. The military uniforms worn by most of the soldiers as recently as the American Civil War look like they would fit a child. Those people, were, on average, tiny by comparison with today. Look also at Spanish plate armor from previous centuries. They average anywhere from four foot something to five foot five.
There are two types of bronze, arsenic and tin alloyed. Arsenic bronze can be natural or purposely mixed. The natural kind came mostly from Anatolia. If the date holds, this would be one of the oldest bronze objects. The bronze age technically goes back to around ~3600 BC in the Levant, Egypt and Sumer, but we don’t find much bronze until ~2500 BC. These dates are not exact and there is much discussion around it.
Not even that long ago. There is a Texas museum in SAN Antonio, and has Mexican Army uniforms. They were at least a foot shorter than I am, and I’m only average height. My grandmother was only 4’8” and was considered to be average in height.
This line never gets old. I swear it is one of the best film moments of all time.
For making Toast
Agree with ‘not even that long ago ...’
Some time back there was an article by a M.E. person writing in support of the USA’a efforts over there fighting terrorism. In his quotes were a few comments about the American soldiers, very complimentary. He mentioned how much bigger the Americans were than the locals. Stronger, faster, and smarter also.
Our lifestyle and superior medical system is probably a lot of the reason. I am only 5’10” but all three of my sons are over 6 feet!
We are the giants.
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