Sword (piece)

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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: 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
  Sword blade / portion
  
• 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. 
• Translations:
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