Ah, those Italian girls...
I can't see where they mentioned the alloy or the primary ore.
If that’s a Sword then who ever carried it must have been a midget. It looks more like a dagger.
There appears to be some green corrosion in one of the pictures. this would indicate that it could be bronze. That’s consistent with the stated age of the sword as being well before the Iron Age. An iron alloy would likely not have green corrosion.
One of the surprises is that the weapon is made of arsenical copper, an alloy of copper and arsenic used about 5,000 years ago, before true bronze was invented by alloying copper and tin.
Anyone see The Lady of The Lake lately?
Ah, those Italian girls...
This was posted a few times recently. I remember the hottie and the monk. He is smiling whiling holding a hard ridged sword.
There are two types of bronze, arsenic and tin alloyed. Arsenic bronze can be natural or purposely mixed. The natural kind came mostly from Anatolia. If the date holds, this would be one of the oldest bronze objects. The bronze age technically goes back to around ~3600 BC in the Levant, Egypt and Sumer, but we don’t find much bronze until ~2500 BC. These dates are not exact and there is much discussion around it.
For making Toast
So, what is the mystery in which the sword is surrounded? I’m not sure I’d classify ancient unknowns as mysteries. It was undecorated, but that doesn’t make it ceremonial. I’ve seen some very beautiful weapons that were definitely weapons of war. Perhaps the mystery is that it wasn’t found with its original box and paperwork.
The Riddle of Steel!!
*ping*
Bronze Age (from one source) - Early Bronze Age Period 3300-2100 BC
That’s alloying, melting and casting Bronze.
Such early things were Prestige items, and would become symbolic heirlooms, and thus why this thing could still exist after ~ 5000 years.
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How exactly is the sword “mysterious”?
Was it acting peculiar?