Object: Sword (Bronze Age)
Period: Bronze Age to BRONZE AGE (-950 to -850)
Material: Copper alloy 
Found: Madron, Cornwall, Cornwall (South West)
Discovery method: Metal detector
Length: 84 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight: 86.3 g
Description: Two fragments of a cast copper alloy sword, part of the hilt and part of the blade, which are not connected. The hilt is lozenge-shaped in plan and in section, broken between the hilt tang and its shoulders at one edge and between the shoulders and the beginning of the blade at the other edge. There is a raised and rounded mid-rib that rises about 3 mm above the surface of the hilt on both broken edges and averages about 12 mm in width, and a rivet hole that is half way along the angled outer edge and 3.5 mm in diameter. The blade is rectangular in plan and lozenge-shaped in section, with a raised but flattened mid-rib that rises about 2 mm above the surface of the blade on both sides and averages about 12 mm in width, between two raised longitudinal lines that are 5 mm in from the existing edges, where the blade starts to taper to its cutting edge on either side, now missing. Both cutting edges are worn and incomplete and the perpendicular edges to these are broken so that the original length of the blade is unknown as well as the position of this fragment along it, though it is likely between the hilt and the middle of the sword as this is where the blade tapers before expanding at the mid point. 



Corrosion across the breaks indicates this was done in antiquity and the breaks show signs of high porosity in the metal at a macroscopic level, which would have influenced the breakage. Additionally, there are indentations below the break on the midrib on both edges of the hilt fragment which appear to be consistent with the bronze patina and it is possible these represent chisel marks (Matt Knight pers comm). 



These fragments may be a result of the deliberate decomissioning of the sword into separate pieces before it was ritually destroyed, or it may have been broken up in order to melt it down and re-use the metal. The two broken edges of the blade look like they were subsequently trimmed in order to re-use the weapon as a tool such as a razor or scraper. One broken end of the blade has a central semi-circular notch that is 5 mm in diameter which may have been used to break the sword at this point or deliberately produced as part of a rivet hole for later hafting when the fragment was re-used.There are also indentations and hammer marks on the two fragments that suggests the intentional breaking up of the sword, and a 'V' shape cut into the edge of the blade that indicates collision with another sword edge, perhaps during sparring (Neil Burridge pers comm).



There are pitted areas of corrosion on the surface but there appears to be the original golden-coloured bronze surface still visible underneath, as though the sword may have been in waterlogged conditions before ending up in the field in which it was found.The lozenge-shaped section of the blade with a raised central mid-rib suggests that this is probably part of a sword from the Ewart Park phase of the Late Bronze Age, c.950-850 BC.



Needham & Rohl (1998) illustrate a similar Ewart Park sword with two rivets in the hilt on page 135, fig.37, no.387.



Pearce (1983) illustrates a similar section from a Ewart Park sword found at Cranborne in Dorset, on page 665, plate 104, no.365.



Knight, Ormrod & Pearce (2015) illustrate similar fragments of swords, from St Erth in Cornwall and Holne in Devon, on pages 74 & 99, plates 1 & 26, nos.21a-d (CORN-F4C163) & 136 (DEV-A6FA73), which are dated from the Ewart Park phase and the Late Bronze Age.



The measurements below are the total length of both fragments, the width and thickness of the hilt fragment and the total weight of both fragments.
Notes: Results of XRF analysis by Dr. Chris Bryan at Camborne School of Mines:



Hilt fragment:



50% copper



14% tin



0.3% lead



0.07% arsenic



35% of the reading were anomalies which include gasses and not inclusions



Blade fragment:



48% copper



15% tin



0.23% lead



0.05% arsenic



36% of the reading were recorded as anomalies which include gasses and not inclusions



Removed comparison to 2016 T20 (CORN-E8DF11) in an earlier version of this report as the object in question has since been reclassified - N. Wilkin, 5.4.17
Subsequent action: Donated to a museum