09-25-2012, 04:04 PM
I agree with Robert.
Roman swords were not pattern welded to my knowledge. The Filippovka sword was pattern welded, and the akinakes found in the same kurgan was welded with fancy gryphon heads along a central theme; but this was not Roman or even close. It was Sarmatian I or II. The akinakes found with the Golden Man/Woman of Issyk Kul was similar to the Filippovka akinakes.
I don't know the content of the Aorsi/Roxolani swords that were Chinese influenced, but we might think they were at least pattern welded, if not made from differential steel/iron which shows up in China about 100 years earlier than these migration-era swords. My personal Roxolani reenactment sword is pattern welded (folded), but not layered in the differential manner. Nor is it clay tempered, although the technique was used in the Orient.
It's been said that an analysis of Viking pattern welded swords has shown the steel to have arrived from Afganistan. We see blades of pattern steel in the Ospray books, in reference to Germanic craftsmen, but has an early Germanic pattern welded sword been found?
There is no indication that Roman army swords carried sophisticated steel. They were more like "brown shoes." ;-)
Roman swords were not pattern welded to my knowledge. The Filippovka sword was pattern welded, and the akinakes found in the same kurgan was welded with fancy gryphon heads along a central theme; but this was not Roman or even close. It was Sarmatian I or II. The akinakes found with the Golden Man/Woman of Issyk Kul was similar to the Filippovka akinakes.
I don't know the content of the Aorsi/Roxolani swords that were Chinese influenced, but we might think they were at least pattern welded, if not made from differential steel/iron which shows up in China about 100 years earlier than these migration-era swords. My personal Roxolani reenactment sword is pattern welded (folded), but not layered in the differential manner. Nor is it clay tempered, although the technique was used in the Orient.
It's been said that an analysis of Viking pattern welded swords has shown the steel to have arrived from Afganistan. We see blades of pattern steel in the Ospray books, in reference to Germanic craftsmen, but has an early Germanic pattern welded sword been found?
There is no indication that Roman army swords carried sophisticated steel. They were more like "brown shoes." ;-)
Alan J. Campbell
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
