Matthew Knight, the envy of the PhD office.

Following the success of my funding application before Christmas, I finally embarked on the first of my experimental productions this week. I spent two days working with a brilliant metal-caster, Neil Burridge, in producing replicas of a broken sword from a Bronze Age hoard from St. Erth, Cornwall. Two successful castings were produced and worked in preparation for use and destructive experiments to be undertaken at a later date.

The sword on which my replicas were based is characteristic of the Ewart Park phase of the Late Bronze Age in Britain, but has distinctive characteristics that stands it apart, namely the wide, flat midrib that extends down from the flanged hilt. This is a feature not seen on other Ewart Park swords, nor many other swords, and one that makes these replicas so interesting. They potentially represent a Cornish variant of a style adopted from the rest of the country. They were handled with ash hilt plates and pommel, which balances the weight of the blade and makes them incredibly versatile weapons. The aim for now is to engage them in some combat testing before subjecting them to a variety of destructive processes, involving bending, burning and breaking.

 I still have barbed spearheads and socketed axes to produce and so these experiments won’t be coming to fruition for another few weeks. More extensive details of the experiments I’m intending to undertake and more details about the sword can be found on my blog.

Be sure to follow regular updates of what I’m doing and how on Facebook and Twitter (@mgknight24).

Written by Matthew Knight.