[Lafayette C Curtis]

Has anybody here seen an example of a "Celtic" (including Gallic, Celtiberian, Irish, and many other cultures usually lumped under the "Celtic" label) sword with a grip long enough for two-handed use? I've been hearing a lot about these things but I'm rather skeptical because I've never actually heard of a historical example being mentioned, nor have I seen any pictures of a preserved/excavated sword with this feature. I'd be more than glad to hear that I'm wrong, though.

[Peter Bosman]

My archeologist friends who are sepcialised in this area have no knowledge of one such sword. It may ne that is simply has not been found yet as finds are not at all that common and cover a huge time span.

Also swords from before the medieval period are not at all so common in either graves of isolated finds.

At the moment I am reading a publications about depositions in the 5th c. AD in context of earlier and later finds. Very intersting as it also incorpoartes spears and axes and takes a different view on cultural divisons and the supposed militairy context.
The publication is:

Rituals of Power
Frans Teuws et all
European Science Foundation
Brill - Leiden
20000

A tantalising chapter is ´A kind of mirror for men´- Sword depositions in late antique northern Gaul.

In fact, it may be VER telling that so VERY few (of these) swords have turned up in a context other than symbolic and I find the parallel with torques striking (I have the ref. of the currently most informative publicaion otn those availeable if wanted).

Anyway: NO long swords

peter

[Hugh Fuller]

[Gianfranco Bongioanni]

I remember a sword with a long handle from the UK; I will look for more information. This type of sword is surely very rare.

Gianfranco