Luristan Type 2 Iron Swords |
| ||||||
Is there anything I can tell you about the Luristan type 2 swords that I haven't
already dealt with here under the heading "Early Mediterranean
Swords"? Not really - unfortunately. Just for fun, I give you a picture of a borderline case from Saruq al.Hadid together with a rather unusual one with a lion hilt | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
The one on the right has a blade that is very reminiscent of the Luristan type I blades. Did somebody produce an early "pastiche" by fixing a fancy hilt to the blade of an original mask sword? | |||||||||||||||||||
I could produce more pictures of type II swords but that doesn't really help. Let's recount what we know and what we don't | |||||||||||||||||||
Here is the list
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
The last point merits some comments. How do you make a one-piece-of-iron sword
like these from a rather imperfect lump of iron like the famous Khorsabad
double pyramisds? It definitely needs a lot of good fire welding. I would not be surprised if one will find that a lot
of folding was done like with the Luristan type I swords (and likely with the bi-metal swords). And how do you forge that hilt? It is not clear to me at all. A modern smith might have some ideas of how do that. However it is done, it cannot be easy. Once more we encounter highly sophisticated craftsmanship. To say it once more: these simple looking swords took substantial skills in iron working for their production. | |||||||||||||||||||
Northing helps but a thorough metallurgical investigation of some specimen in the future. Let's hope somebody will do it. | |||||||||||||||||||
First Iron Swords - Double-Disc Hilt Sword
First Iron Swords - Literature Digest
© H. Föll (Iron, Steel and Swords script)