Sources for gladius hilt materials

[LUCIUS ALFENUS AVITIANUS]

There are some of those rings used in spathae of the III century. The form of the bonze guard reinforcment makes me think it was a III century spatha.

[Crispvs]

Marco,

The sword you have posted up a picture of is very similar to the well known sword from Hod Hill which is presently in the British Museum. Do you have anymore information on it?

As for bones, my grip is made from a calf's metatarsal, and the gaurd is made from an adult cow's metatarsal. The pommel is made from a section of an adult cow's femur and the caps which form the top and bottom of the pommel are made from peices of a cow's shank bone, this being the only bone which has reasonably flat sections which are thick enough, which makes it a very popular bone with professional bone carvers. I also made the plugs for the ends of the guard from pieces of shank bone.
As an alternative, to the straight guard that I have made, you could go for a circular guard as featured on both the Mainz and Dorchester bone handle assemblages. A circular guard should be made from a femur, but should be the part of the femur which flares out slightly, rather than the parallel section slightly higher up the bone which is suitable for the pommel. You would need to make caps for it like the ones necessary for the pommel. A number of circular bone caps of this sort are known.

Crispvs

Oh, and by the way, I am not a professional in this either.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Thanks for the name on that , Crispus it was escaping me last night, couldn't find this link to it! :roll:

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Caballo has had an excellent reproduction made of this.

[marcos]

beautiful images, thanks.
Effectively the two handles seem to be similar, although the image is not enough clear. The pommel could be as well a fragment of one like the mainz type in Rheinghonheim (image above, 1st page ).
We have to find some other pics.

[Crispvs]

No, it is a separate type. The Rheingoenheim sword hilt is a normal Mainz type sword hilt, only covered with silver sheathing. The Hod Hill sword is a seperate type to this which is parallelled by a number of other less well known examples.

Crispvs

[marcos]

right , but I was talking about handles of the one published by me (without name) and the Rheingoenheim.
Could be that the pommel of the "unnamed" was quite the some , but now seems just a fragment is remaining.

[Crispvs]

It could be I suppose, but my money would be on the sword you posted up being of the same type as the Hod Hill sword.
It is a fantastic find by the way. Where did you come accross it and do you have any further information on it?

Crispvs

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Yes, it is definately a similar sword. Great stuff, is it from the mainland or a British find?

[marcos]

I wrote to the friend of mine who sent me the image , asking further informations , but I'm still waiting. As soon as I have , I share with you.

[marcos]

Finally I have checked this gladius, and here some more informations
tot lenght 58,2 cm
blade l. 42,4 cm
blade w. near the hilt : 6,5 cm
blade w. in the middle: 4,2 cm
weight: around 450 gr, but i still have to weight it

two damages:
- hilt twisted in a critic point , where the metal is highly adzed
- tip of the point twisted in the last 3-4 mm.

inside the guard , I found some small fragments of a strange and suberose material ( putrid wood ?)
here some pics

[marcos]

[marcos]

[Crispvs]

Your sword handle is definitely of the same type as the Hod Hill sword in the British museum. Caballo is probably the best person around here to talk to about handles of this type.
Interestingly, the blade appears to be a Mainz type blade.

Has your sword been published yet? If it has not, PLEASE make sure that you get to to someone who knows enough about Roman swords to publish it properly. A sword like this needs to be in the public record so that it can be compared to other swords, and that means it needs to be in a journal or archaeological report where it will be easily accessable. Not everyone has access to or knowledge of RAT.

If you do not know of a suitable publication or specialist, try getting in touch either with Christian Miks or with Mike Bishop, both of whom I am sure would be only to pleased to help you out with the relevant information.

Crispvs

[Tarbicus]

Oh WOW!! A Mainz blade with a Hod Hill handle! Get it published!

Here's Caballo and Peronis' version of the Hod Hill sword for comparison: http://www.armamentaria.com/store/images/hod%20hill.jpg
http://www.armamentaria.com/store/index ... cts_id=401

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Awesome, now that is the Mainz for me, baybee!!!

Like Tarb says, the similarity is unmistakable.
That is a great find, where is it from?

Crispus, where abouts in the Museum is the Hod Hill kept? I don't recall seeing it there last year!