The Hod Hill Sword

The upper part of an iron sword, 557 mm long, including the metal fittings of its handle. The blade, 435 mm long to the end of the hilt end and 52 mm wide, is flat in section and there is no discernible taper. It is corroded and its edges are damaged, especially in the lower part. It ends at a fairly straight, and probably deliberate, break, and it seems that a sharp bend has been straightened 143 mm from the present end. There is a copper-alloy crown-shaped hilt end (66 mm wide) with a ribbed band below (57 mm wide). Both sides and both ends are decorated with pairs of stippled comma motifs. The tang is rectangular in section and tapers towards the top, which is burred over a four-clawed copper-alloy pommel cover (55 x 25 mm) that is decorated with a grooved border and cross-grooves over the top. In the centre of the tang is a thick, rounded copper-alloy washer that is circular in plan and 29 mm diameter. It is decorated with diagonal grooves and is bordered top and bottom by two bands, the inner notched and the outer plain. There are two other thick washers that would have separated the pommel from the grip and the grip from the guard. Each is oval, 22 x 17 mm, with narrow vertical ribs separating alternate broad and shallow grooves. They seem to be composite, with the ribbed and grooved element bordered by separate washers. There is another thin washer towards the top of the grip. The type of hilt-guard here represented belongs to the first century AD.

Date 1st C. Found/Acquired: Hod Hill(England,Dorset,Stourpaine,Hod Hill)

Materials: iron, copper alloy,

Length: 557 millimetres Length: 435 millimetres (blade)Width: 52 millimetres (blade)Width: 66 millimetres (hilt end)

Source: www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_prb/i/iron_sword_-_bronze_fittings.aspx