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Celtic Anthropoid Sword Hilts
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Trying to find out more about the
Celtic swords with anthropoid iron hilts offered for sale by
"Hermann Historica", I
ran across so much material that a special module became necessary. |
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Pleiner, in his
"Celtic
Sword" book, notes that there are about 40 known Celtic swords with
anthropoid hilts. Only about 13 of these swords can be assigned to a grave
assemblage and thus dated with some precision. He gives a table of these 13
swords but the dates are imprecise and cover all of La Tène, i.e. about
500 BC to 0. Pleiner mentions that there are anthropoid hilts made from iron
but doesn't give examples. |
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Nobody, it appears, has mentioned
that there is a big difference in making a bronze head for the pommel or an
iron head. This is best appreciated by looking at one particular bronze head,
similar to one on the British Museum
sword: |
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Here is another head. Quite
different from the artistic point of view but with the same problems concerning
the making: |
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Sword pommel found in Cirencester;
Gloucestershire, UK; dated to 100 BC - 100 AD |
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It's not so easy to cast a hollow
bronze object like that. To make it just with a hammer, as needs to be done
with iron, is well-nigh impossible. And I also cannot see how that could be
done by swaging. |
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So how many swords with iron heads do
we have? I don't know. Beyond the two "Hermann Historica" ones, I have not yet
found others. Here is the page form the auction catalogue; further down are
details of the figures: |
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Hermann Historica catalogue page |
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Front and back of the iron heads on the
"Hermann Historica" swords |
Source: Hermann Historica 2015
catalogue |
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© H. Föll (Iron, Steel and Swords script)