Hi Kirk,

Thanks for posting that fantastic article! The Gundlingen and Mindelheim swords are some of my favorites, but I didn't have much information on them yet, especially of the Mindelheim type. The Mindelheim sword from the King's grave of Oss is still my most favorite iron sword of all time. Perhaps some day if I'm rich enough, I'll ask Patrick Barta if he want to do a reproduction it. For those interested, there's a book available on this grave find, which has some really good pictures of the sword and other finds from the grave: http://www.matrijs.com/titelpag.asp?recnumb=90-5345-233-8. It's in dutch though, I don't know if there's a English version of the book available.

I have some pictures of some additional examples.

Bronze and iron Gundlingen swords in the British Museum:
http://1500bc.com/british_museum/06170014.jpg

Iron Gundlingen sword with gold leaf hilt covers in the British Museum:
http://1500bc.com/british_museum/06270127.JPG

A bronze Mindelheim sword in the National Museum in Copenhagen:
http://membres.lycos.fr/bronzeage/late_bronze_age/07160046.jpg

I'm going to remove the pictures from my webspace soon, to make room for new stuff.

Just thought I'd give an advance warning. :)

I'm looking for more detailed information of the ivory hilted Mindelheim type sword from Hallstatt, from grave 573, which is pictured here:
http://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/nhm/prehist/Collect..._16_E.html

Does anyone have accurate drawings and dimentions of the entire blade? At the moment I only have a rough water coloring of the blade, and several photos of the only the hilt.

As I've recently come across some more interesting examples of Mindelheim swords by Steve and Ferro from http://www.archaeoforum.de, I thought I'd include them here as well.

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Mindelheim sword with ivory hilt and amber inlays from Hallstatt, grave 573

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Mindelheim sword with ivory hilt and amber inlays from Hallstatt, grave 573

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Ivory pommel with amber inlays from Hallstatt, Grave 507 Dating: 730/720-660BC

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Ivory pommel with amber inlays from Hallstatt, Grave 507 Dating: 730/720-660BC

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Ivory pommel from Hallstatt, Grave 910 Dating: 730/720-660BC

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Mindelheim sword with ivory hilt from Hallstatt, Grave 697 Dating: 660-620BC

I´d just like to say a great big thank to you Kirk for puting together this wonderful presentation.
Very inspiring!
The material I have on these swords is very limited and it is good to see more examples as well as a condensed text presentation. Great work. It is time consuming to filter through material like you have done.

Jeroen, thanks to you as well for posting those ivory pommels. Just what I had dreamed to see without knowing it!

As others have said before: this thread would be great to be worked into an article.

There is a very nice Mindelhiem type sword in Uppsala (kept in storage, but well accessible there when you visit the store rooms). Its tang is broken just where it swells behind the shoulders, but the blade is well preserved. It is a long and handsome sword. The rounded midrib and the risers are expertly shaped and very precisely done. Seems to have been finished by scraping (?). The surface of the sword is such that you might make out toolmarks.
I will look at this sword again next time I visit this store room. Perhaps I can add to this thread with some detail pics of this one example.

I would like to know more about the ones made in Iron (as it would be great to try and forge such a sword sometime).
My impression is that it is the Mindelheim type that were also made in iron. Has there been found iron versions of the smaller Gundlingen type?
(Sorry if this info is already presented in the text!)

Thanks guys for all good work!
Peter

Hey Jeroen...

Thanks so much for the pictures and info... and the link to TOMBA. That is one amazing site! It is a image and info archive dedicated to compiling information on elite burials in Europe throughout the Bronze and Early Iron Age.

Here are a few more images of Mindelheim hilts from the site.

ks

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Iron Mindelheim Bronze Hilt from Hallatt Austria, Salzberg Cem. Grave 260 Hallstatt C2, c.650 B.C. Image Source TOMBA image Archive, Location Museum of Natural History Vienna Austria

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Bronze Mindelheim Bronze Pommel, from Hallstatt Austria Salzberg Cem. Grave 504, Hallstatt C2, c.650 B.C. Image Source TOMB, Location Museum of Natural History Vienna Austria

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Iron Mindelheim Ivory Pommel with Amber Inlay, from Lorraine France, Marainville-sur-Madon, CentralGrave, Hallstatt D1, Image Source TOMB

Here are few other Mendelheim finds...

I found a color image of the gold foil from Grave 99 shown as drawings in J.D. Cowen's work.

Also a image of a Gundlingen with a separate cast antenna pommel, also mentioned in Cowen.

ks

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Gold Foil Decoration from Mendelheim Pommel from Salzberg Austria, Grave 99

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Early Ramsauer Drawings of Mindelheim Grave Finds from Hallstatt

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Image of Gundlingen Perserved with Separate Cast Antenna Pommel

This is great stuff, gentlemen! Thanks for posting it.

Kirk Lee Spencer wrote:

...My son just showed me how to use....

Amazing, isn't it, how the much the young can teach their elders! My children are all in their twenties, and they have been teaching me for several years now.

Hey Steve...

Thanks for the info... Explains why I'm having a hard time finding late Hallstatt swords.

And welcome to the forum... Its good to have you here :D :D :D

ks

Today i was in the Archäologische Staatssammlung München in the arsenal enjoying my audience with the Kemmathen sword - 2700 years old and it looks like casted yesterday! :eek:

And i held that beauty in my hands! And ...dam´n ... my girlfriend has lost her digicam! :blush:

It´s profitable to know an prof of the Munich university...

Did you get any measurements of the sword b.t.w.? In particular, balance point, mass?