Late Medieval Sword from Wolin
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18778/0208-6034.36.05Keywords:
Western Pomerania, Wolin, late medieval, Głosek, Oakeshott, swordsAbstract
The article presents an iron sword discovered in 2013 during archaeological excavations in Wolin (West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland). The find survived in a fragment which consists of a broken blade and a hilt with cross-guard and pommel. The blade is deformed by corrosion, with a narrow fuller. On the lower part of this fragment there are signs made by yellow metal (copper alloy ?). The cross-guard is strong and solidly rectangular, the arms are waisted and expand at the ends. The handle is topped with a disc-form of pommel.
The typological analysis of the sword is quite simple. Based on general proportions and metrics, the sword blade can be classified as type XIIIa by E. Oakeshott, popular between the late 13th and early 15th century. The cross-guard belongs to the style 2 in his classification, which has a wide chronological framework, and the pommel corresponds to type J popular between the half of 13th and 1st quarter of 15th century. Based on all these data, the sword from Wolin can be dated probably to 2nd half of 13th and 14th century (1st half ?).
Sword from Wolin is one of the 36 swords in type XIIIa in Poland, and one of the 11 on the territory of Western Pomerania.
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