‘Scientists Sword Fight for Science to Solve Debate Over Ancient Bronze Warfare’
28 April 2020
10:59
Bronze swords have been “the thing” for some centuries, used across Europe from 1600 BCE to 600 BCE to be exact, and they’ve been found all over through graves, rivers, and bogs. These swords are made of a mixture of copper and tin; however, since the alloy is so soft and easy to mangle, historians were puzzled whether these swords were battlefield tools or mere status symbols.
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A team of archaeologists staged modern fights with bronze swords to measure the resulting microscopic wear and tear and solved the mystery as to how swords were used in Bronze Age warfare and revealed how different fighting techniques spread across Europe.
