Posted on 12/27/2024 3:59:42 PM PST by nickcarraway
Exceptionally Well-Preserved Anglo-Saxon Sword Found in UK
Archaeologists in rural Kent, UK, have unearthed a “really incredible” 6th-century sword from an Anglo-Saxon cemetery near Canterbury. Several other striking objects have also been found at the same site.
It is exceptionally well preserved; the silver-and-gilt hilt has a finely crafted decorated pattern, and the blade is embossed with runic script. Parts of the weapon’s leather-and-wood scabbard – and its beaver fur lining – have also survived. A ring is attached to its pommel, which archaeologists believe might symbolize an oath to a king.
The weapon’s condition is so impressive that it is being compared to the famously well-preserved Anglo-Saxon sword that was discovered at Sutton Hoo in the English county of Suffolk in 1939.
The exact location of the recent discovery has not been disclosed because further excavations are planned. So far, 12 burials have been excavated and it’s thought 200 more exist in the area, dating from the sixth to fifth centuries.
“We’re keeping the name of the site under wraps. It’s a very rich cemetery. It would be a real tragedy if it became well known before we’ve excavated it,” Duncan Sayer, the lead archaeologist and professor of archaeology at the University of Central Lancashire, told the Guardian.
He said the sword is “really incredible, in the top echelons of swords, an elite object in every way, which is wonderful. It rivals the swords from Dover and from Sutton Hoo.”
A golden pendant inscribed with a serpent or dragon was also found alongside the weapon. Archaeologists say such pendants would have belonged to women with lofty statuses.
The discoveries will be included in a forthcoming BBC six-part series called “Digging for Britain.” “I’ve never seen one that’s so beautifully preserved,” professor Alice Roberts, an academic who presents the show, told the Guardian. “I’ve never seen one that’s so beautifully preserved. It’s an extraordinary Anglo-Saxon cemetery, with really beautifully furnished graves, a lot of weapon burials where you find things like iron spear-points and seaxes, which are Anglo-Saxon knives – and then there’s this astonishing sword.”
To the tax authorities?
What ancient sword?
This Ancient sword?
Family heirloom forever.
Prove me wrong.
So they’re digging up cemeteries? How old does a person’s grave have to be before it becomes an archeological excavation?
Does it say “EXCALIBUR?” That’s the only ancient sword I’m interested in?
So they’re digging up cemeteries?
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This is nothing new.
Kind of makes one think getting cremated and having your ashes scattered somewhere is the way to go.
And yes I’ve seen the Big Lebowski. Windy cliffs aren’t the place to do that. :)
Not that it really matters, I suppose. I’ll be somewhere else. Like the Klingons say in Star Trek, the body is just an empty shell.
Native Americans wouldn’t stand for that.
Striking objects? Like a Mace?
This is a cutting object.
Where’s Slings and Arrows?
True.
Workers have unearthed a tenth-century sword at the bottom of a river in Poland. While the weapon has endured over a thousand years of corrosion, scans show that a “mysterious inscription” survives on its blade.
The discovery occurred last month in the Polish city of Włocławek, where construction crews were dredging the Vistula River. One of the workers, Sławomir Mularski, spotted the sword in a pile of extracted muck, according to Science in Poland’s Tomasz Więcławski. Per Google Translate, Mularski says that his heartbeat quickened as an image of “a Viking wielding a sword” began to take shape in his mind.
Mularski alerted officials with the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments in Toruń (a nearby city), who retrieved and examined the sword. McClatchy’s Aspen Pflughoeft writes that the “rust-covered weapon” featured a “long blade and a pommel that looks almost like a knot.”
The sword looks fairly ordinary at first glance. Weighing in at 2 lbs., 10 ounces (1.2 kilograms) and measuring 38 inches (964 millimeters) long, the weapon is steel, with a double edge and a hilt shaped like a cross. But on one side of the sword is a mysterious inscription, made by gold wire that has been inlaid into the steel, which reads, "+NDXOXCHWDRGHDXORVI+."
Near Glastonbury..
Was it King Arthur’s Ex Caliber?
That’s where he ruled.
Oh, I think we can all guess what that means.
These are not cemeteries with head stones and the like. They find these cemeteries in farmers fields and even city parks. Pretty much every where you step in the UK beneath your feet is history. Nice Roman artifacts are not expensive in the UK. If it less than 300 years old it ain’t ancient to the Brits.
Be sure to drink your Ovaltine?
Forged in Fire is a very educational show, really got me interested.
I almost wanted to get envolved with something like that but I have too many irons in the fire now:)
My father passed away ten years ago last month. He was a knifemaker... and I mean a REALLY good one. He started small but built up a fine shop for his craft. He could make beautiful Damascus steel like nobody. I wish he could have seen Forged in Fire. I can imagine him intently watching every episode and finding inspiration for his next project :-)
;^)
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