Sword found in Austria. -- myArmoury.com

Andreas Auer · Posted: Tue 19 Oct, 2010 12:19 am Post subject: Sword found in Austria.

look here ... http://www.linz.at/hotspot_portal/news_53776.asp ...in German only (sorry)

a type XII i think.

Richard Martell · Posted: Tue 19 Oct, 2010 3:56 am Post subject:

That's how it looks like.
Approximately 1200 AD.
The wooden grip isn't rotten!
It's too bad that the point is gone Sad

Matt Corbin · Posted: Tue 19 Oct, 2010 9:36 am Post subject:

That's pretty amazing that the grip is still preserved after 800 years.

Michael B. · Industry Professional

Really well preserved! It looks pretty beefy. I don't understand a lot of german, but it seems to me that it was preserved because of something covering it? Is that right? I hope they publish more photos of this, and the fact it has maker's marks on it is neat. Regardless of the tip missing, that thing still looks lethal after 800 years.

Douglas S · Posted: Tue 19 Oct, 2010 10:26 am Post subject:

Plenty of questions here. Who is holding the sword and shouldn't he be wearing gloves? And what's his assistant have in her hands?

Christopher Treichel · Posted: Tue 19 Oct, 2010 1:28 pm Post subject:

quick translation. my apologies for any errors... don't have my dictionary at hand right now.

News out of LINZ
press release from 18 October 2010 Culture
Well preserved sword out of the Crusade time has been found
The City Archeologist Univ.-Prof. Dr. Erwin M. Ruprechtsberger and his team have been surprised with the find of a well preserved sword from the time of the crusades around 1200. The almost completely preserved, almost 90cm long sword was accidentally found in the Donauschotter by Linz. It contains a strong, flexible and judged to be a blade of highest quality steel.
The rarity of the preservation is that they were encased in a material which protected the four letters engraved into the sword that were part of the maker or owner as well as the well preserved wood grip and the mushroom shaped pommel. It is similar to a mass of bitumen on the outside a bowl of stream mud and debris. This acted as a stabilizer and protected it for 800 years. Even a few fabric remnants were preserved.
Metallurgist Prof. Preßlinger from the voestalpine approved the great quality of the sword steel. More scientific findings are awaited to decipher the discovery of the sword, the singled letters and the protective covering. The historians will submit theories about which time period and to which historical events and context the perfectly preserved sword out of the Donauschotter fits.
About ten years ago a similar sword was found in the Traun near Ebelsberg which originated from the founding of the castle Ebelsberg, the „Eperesburg.“ This sword resides in the Archeological collection of the Nordico.
The Gentleman in the picture is Stadtarchäologe Univ.-Prof. Dr. Erwin M. Ruprechtsberger. The lady is one of is colleagues

Scott Hrouda · Posted: Tue 19 Oct, 2010 1:36 pm Post subject:

Thank you for the translation.

Wow, wow, and wow. Eek!

I can't wait to hear more about this find. I love the simple style 3 cross (it doesn't appear to taper like a style 1) and the state of preservation is great for an archeological find. What classification would you apply to the pommel?

Richard Martell · Posted: Tue 19 Oct, 2010 10:35 pm Post subject:

Tim Lison · Posted: Tue 19 Oct, 2010 11:34 pm Post subject:

Awesome sword. The pommel is a beast. It looks as though it is hexagonal? Kind of an oddball to be sure! Very cool, thanks for posting this.

Andreas Auer · Posted: Wed 20 Oct, 2010 12:17 am Post subject:

thx for the translation....

yep it seems its already cleaned and conserved.

it would be interesting if the bitumen was some kind of transport packaging...are ther any similar finds of such cover...

Christopher Treichel · Posted: Wed 20 Oct, 2010 7:50 am Post subject:

Sean Flynt · Posted: Wed 20 Oct, 2010 8:55 am Post subject:

One thought: If a ship or barge burned at anchor with the weapon aboard, the hilt could conceivably have been accidentally preserved by melting pitch and spared from the fire by the sinking.

Florian Machl · Posted: Mon 25 Oct, 2010 8:03 am Post subject:

You find lots of additional pictures here: http://www.huscarl.at/wissenschaft64.php

If we get more information, I will let you know. Maybe someone is so kind to translate the essential informations for anyone who is interested. All images are available in an original format of about 4000-5000 pixels width.

Richard Martell · Posted: Mon 25 Oct, 2010 1:39 pm Post subject:

Craig Conde · Posted: Wed 27 Oct, 2010 6:41 am Post subject:

The base of the blade seems to be very intact with out any large defects, except for the large finger shaped notch at the base of the blade. Does anyone else think this might have been a feature designed for fingering the blade without losing a digit and not just rust?

(BTW, First time posting. Hi!)

Jeremy V. Krause · Posted: Wed 27 Oct, 2010 10:06 am Post subject:

1200 seems a bit late to me. Anyone else think so?

Irene Philips · Posted: Wed 27 Oct, 2010 11:57 am Post subject:

This is truly an amazing find! Thanks for providing the translation, Christopher!

While I agree what the gentleman holding the sword should be wearing gloves, it's probably the last thing on my mind at this point. LOL. If this sword is indeed from 1200, then we can safely say that the sword was extremely well preserved.
All sorts of questions arise from this find. Who owned this sword? Was it intentionally preserved or preserved by the likes of good luck? I want to know all that I can!

Craig Johnson · Industry Professional

Craig Johnson · Industry Professional

Florian Machl · Posted: Thu 28 Oct, 2010 1:54 am Post subject:

Statements of Craig Johnson and Alfred Geibig were recently added to the news article.

http://www.huscarl.at/wissenschaft64.php