Record

Sword (piece)

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from Dell, Aird, Lewis, Outer Hebrides

Postcard of Sword (piece).
000-100-034-412-C
© National Museums Scotland

Sword (piece)

This piece of a bronze sword is one of two found in the peat at Dell at Aird on Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. It is from a prestigious possession, used sometime between 950 and 750 BC.

The piece is from the blade of a leaf-shaped sword. Two rivet holes are present in each wing. The hilt plate and the point are broken off.

Prestigious weapons such as swords are sometimes found broken or placed in special places such as water where they were unlikely to have been placed for safekeeping. Such deposits may be offerings to the gods, ritually destroyed as part of a ceremony we can only guess at.


Record details

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Online ID: 000-100-034-412-C
Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
Project: 0098: National Museums Scotland
Project description | View all records in project
Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.DL 44
Date: Between 950 and 750 BC
Late Bronze Age
Material: Bronze; leaf-shaped; with two rivet holes in each wing
Dimensions: 9.75" L
What: Sword blade / portion
Subject:
Who:
Where: Scotland, Ross and Cromarty, Lewis, Aird
Event:
Description: Portion of Late Bronze Age leaf-shaped sword blade, found in peat at Aird, Lewis
References:
  • Coles, John M. Scottish late Bronze Age metalwork: typology, distributions and chronology. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 93 (1959-1960), pp 16-134, esp. 85, 128. 
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