Lenticular Spathion from the Serçe Limanı Shipwreck

Editor's Note: For some reason measurements are given in metres.

From: Serçe Limanı: An Eleventh-century Shipwreck, Volume 2:
WP 64. Bronze sword hilt and scabbard fragment.

Inv. No. GW 56 [Lot 251] P6 UL4-LL2.

Figs. 21-4, 21-15, and 21-16.

Length 0.25; length of hilt 0.17; length of pommel 0.0265; pommel diameter 0.03 (crown), 0.044 (max), 0.027 (base); pommel crown thickness 0.001; pommel wall thickness 0.002-0.003; lanyard ring diameter 0.0095-0.013 (outside), 0.0035-0.005 (inside); ring wall thickness 0.0035; grip length 0.0815 (overall), 0.0195 (upper section), 0.0185 (middle section, 0.0175 (lower section); tripartite bands (4): 0.028 (diameter), 0.0065 (width); grip diameter 0.025; grip wall thickness 0.002; length of guard 0.058 (to blade), 0.062 (to quillon tips); guard width 0.071 (upper flanges), 0.076 (middle flanges), 0.07 (lower flanges); guard thickness 0.26 (at écusson), 0.024 (at blade); length of quillon 0.034 (upper left and right flanges), 0.49 (middle right flange), 0.05 (middle left flange), 0.067 (lower left and right flanges); quillon width 0.018-0.003 (upper left and right flanges, shoulder to tip), 0.02-0.003 (middle left and right flanges, shoulder to tip), 0.021-0.003 (lower left and right flanges, shoulder to tip); quillon thickness 0.009-0.002 (upper left flange, max. to tip), 0.01-0.002 (upper right flange, max. to tip), 0.008-0.002 (lower left and right flanges, max. to tip); distance rivets from écusson (obverse and reverse), 0.018 (lower), 0.045 (upper); diameter of rivets : 0.043-0.005 (heads), 0.004 (shafts). Bronze sword hilt and concreted remains of scabbard throat. Pommel circular in section. Pommel crown formed by integrally cast disk. Upper pommel surface fluted with 24 channels. Channels elliptical in section, 0.001 deep, width tapering from 0.006 (base) to 0.004 (crown); arrises 0.001 (height), 0.002 (width) (base). Integrally cast lanyard ring 0.01 from pommel crown, 0.01 from pommel base; ring edge length on pommel surface 0.0065. Ring perpendicular to, but aligned on, reverse, longitudinal, medial axis of hilt. Bronze wire loop passes through ring; loop diameter 0.016-0.0195 (outside), 0.011 (inside), loop wall thickness 0.002-0.0025; wire ends overlap 0.008. Pommel terminates in recessed section of cavetto molding tapering to grip. Juncture pommel/grip circumscribed by narrow tripartite band; 2 identical bands divide grip length into three segments; fourth band marks juncture grip/guard. Grip polygonally circular in section. Each grip segment composed of 13 rectangular facets: 0.004-0.006 x 0.0195 (upper segment), 0.004-0.006 x 0.0185 (middle segment), 0.004-0.006 x 0.0175 (lower segment). Below grip, écusson defined by rectangular cowl: length 0.036 (obverse), 0.035 (reverse); width 0.012. Cowl spreads over middle of engaged quillons, which curve and taper down and out, forming flanged arch of guard. Convex lunettes, height 0.046, span 0.06, thickness 0.0045 (obverse and reverse), defined by interior arcs of quillons and closed by narrow bands decorated with pearl motif interposed between horizontally parallel ridges. Each lunette embellished at center with rondelle, 0.038-0.045 in diameter, containing openwork representation or ornately plumed bird, and at corners by foliate designs similar to those on quillons and cowl. Blade originally hafted with single through-rivet in each of 2 lower grip segments. Rivets aligned along obverse/reverse longitudinal, medial axis. Blade not preserved. Scabbard throat completely concreted, length 0.088, width 0.068, thickness 0.024 (exterior), 0.0035-0.0075 (shell). Remains of wooden scabbard lining indicates blade was lenticular in section, double-edged, 0.035 in width, and 0.006 thick at ricasso.

See also these papers by Professor Valeri Yotov:

sword-site.com/thread/131/byzantine-swords-centuries-romania-yotov

sword-site.com/thread/110/sword-guard-professor-valeri-yotov

Source: nauticalarch.org/projects/all/southern_europe_mediterranean_aegean/serce_limani_turkey/articles/a_medieval_arsenal/