Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Bronze objects : Bronze sword [Χ1010]

Bronze sword

Χ1010

Metal (Bronze)

Intact, with superficial wear.

Length: 55 cm. Maximum width of blade: 4 cm.

Mesa Mouliana

Sellades, Tholos Tomb Β

Late Bronze Age. Postpalatial period, Late Minoan IIIC period.:

1200 - 1070 BC:

Gallery:

Case:

121

Exhibition thematic unit:

Late Bronze Age - Postpalatial period (1300-1100 BC). Settlements. Sanctuaries. Tombs

Cemeteries

Description

Sword of Naue II type, found at the left side of a man inhumed in a larnax in Tholos Tomb B of Mouliana. Naue II type swords are of Central European origin and probably indicate the movements of groups of warriors from the north and west to the south and east, from the mid-13th century BC to the end of the Bronze Age. The sword has a characteristic hilt with rounded shoulders sloping evenly to the blade, as opposed to the usually square-shouldered Aegean swords. This example has a midrib and holes in the hilt for the rivets that secured the covering of the hilt, which has not been preserved. In Crete, Naue II swords are shorter, narrower and thinner than those of other regions, having been adapted to local tastes. Central European and Aegean-type swords were used at the same time and often appear together as grave goods in warrior graves, such as the early-12th-century burials in the rich Tholos Tombs A and B of Mesa Mouliana.

Bibliography:

Kilian-Dirlmeier, I. Die Schwerter in Griechenland (Ausserhalb der Peloponnes), Bulgarien und Albanien. Pr?historische Bronzefunden IV.12. Stuttgart, 1993. Molloy, B. "Swords and Swordsmanship in the Aegean Bronze Age." American Journal of Archaeology 114 (2010): 403-428. Xanthoudides, S. "Εκ Κρήτης. Β. Οι Τάφοι των Μουλιανών." Αρχαιολογική Εφημερίς (1904): 21-56, fig. 11. Sandars, N.K. "Later Aegean Bronze Swords." American Journal of Archaeology 67 (1963): 117-153.

Author:

E. S.

Photographs' metadata