Carolingian Swords from Croatia - New Thoughts on an Old Topic (original) (raw)
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Vjesnik Arheološkog muzeja u Zagrebu, 2021
U radu se donosi analiza dvaju novijih, neobjavljenih muzejskih akvizicija, koje su ubrzo po otkupu i konzervaciji izložene u okviru novoga stalnog postava Srednjovjekovne zbirke Arheološkog muzeja u Zagrebu. Riječ je o dvama srednjovjekovnim jednoručnim mačevima koji su pronađeni u šljunku izvađenome iz rijeke Kupe kod Donje Kupčine. Mačevi se, prema svojim obilježjima, mogu pripisati tipu α i datirati u razdoblje ranog, odnosno razvijenoga srednjeg vijeka. Iako su nalazi mačeva ovog tipa već poznati na prostoru Hrvatske, stanje očuvanosti ovih primjeraka, poznato mjesto nalaza, kao i činjenica da su pronađena dva srodna mača na istome području, osnažuju njihovu arheološku i povijesnu vrijednost te daju određene pomake u poznavanju srednjovjekovlja na području ovog, relativno neistraženog, dijela Pokuplja. The paper presents an analysis of two relatively new and unpublished acquisitions of the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb which were exhibited, soon after purchase and conservation, as part of the new permanent exhibition of the Medieval Collection. These one-handed medieval swords were found in the gravel of the River Kupa, extracted near the village of Donja Kupčina. The swords can be characterized as type α and dated to the Early and High Middle Ages. Though it is not uncommon to find swords of this type in the territory of present-day Croatia, the great archaeological and historical value of these specimens is represented by the exceptional condition they were found in. The fact that two related swords were found in the same territory increases their archaeological and historical value, because it warrants progress in the research of the medieval period in this relatively unexplored area of Pokuplje.
The book includes medieval swords from the Balkans and the Carpathian Basin (Pannonian Plain). The Catalogue contains data on 412 swords that come from this area, from the Alps to Istanbul, including all states of the former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia), Bulgaria, Greece and Albania and from Slovakia via Hungary, Romania and Moldova to the Black Sea. Division of the shapes and forms of the basic parts of swords is based on the typology made by Ewart Oakeshott. In addition to this division, the existing shapes were compared with the typologies of other researchers (Alexander Ruttkay, Marian Głosek, Anatolij Kirpichnikov, Alfred Geibig, Karl-Zeno Pinter and others). Considering that swords from southeastern Europe include also some characteristic finds, Oakeshott`s typology is supplemented by some new types of pommels, blades and cross-guards. Certain typological and other properties of swords are mapped in order to explore their spatial distribution. In addition to archaeological findings, in book have been used other medieval source material, such as historical written sources as well as artistic representations of swords. Illustrative part of the book contains drawings and color photos of swords, their visual representations as well as geographical and historical maps. Some of the reviews: • B. Milosavljević, Vesnik Vojnog muzeja 34, Beograd 2008. • H. Sanchiz Alvarez de Toledo, Gladius 29, Madrid 2009, 207-208. - http://gladius.revistas.csic.es/index.php/gladius/article/view/220/221 • Michal Pírek, Slovenska Archaeologia 57/1, Nitra 2009, 191-192. - http://www.archeol.sav.sk/nove/pub\_slovarch.php#s22009 • Lech Marek, Acta Archaeologica Carpathica, Vol. XLIV, Krakow 2009, 267-271. •J. Piet Puype, Waffen- und Kostümkunde 2012, Heft 1, 126-128.
MEDIEVAL KNOBBED MACES OF THE ARMS AND ARMOUR COLLECTION OF THE CROATIAN HISTORY MUSEUM
History of Antique Arms. Researches 2020, 2023
The paper is based on the presentation from the International Conference of Arms and Armour in Ukraine held on November 3-4th where the author, the curator of the Croatian History Museum's Arms and Armour Collection presented the types of maces preserved in the Museum. The Collection is the most important of its type in Croatia in terms of number and diversity of artefacts. It covers the period from the 11th century to the present, and the arms are primarily from the territory of the crown lands of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, or from adjacent regions-particularly those under Ottoman suzerainty. The Croatian History Museum has preserved more than a hundred maces and five flails ranging from the 11th-18th centuries. The paper will, however focus only on the 11th-15th c. medieval knobbed maces. The maces have been classified to a certain extent using Stoyan Popov's typology of maces from Bulgaria preserved in the Vatevi collection, which is the most recent and extensive typology relevant to Croatia. The typology was used in order to narrow down the previously wide chronological frame the medieval maces in the Museum were dated to. The aim of this paper is to present the revisited medieval maces from the Collection as a new source available for future use by researchers of the subject.
Metallographic examination of two medieval knives from Kobilić (Republic of Croatia)
Materials and Manufacturing Processes, 2017
Archeological excavation conducted in 2010 in Kobilić (Turopolje region, Zagreb County, Republic of Croatia) yielded two knives from which one shows pattern-welding. This is the first pattern-welded knife reported among Croatian archeological finds. Our knowledge of pattern-welded knife production and trade within medieval Europe is still limited, therefore we decided to carry out a metallographic examination of both knives found at the Kobilić 1 site. Both knives are of excellent functional quality. The pattern-welded knife has a single-patterned core, which ends before reaching the pointed part of the blade, and to which another strip of phosphoric iron was welded from above to increase the overall decorative effect. The overall construction of the pattern-welded knife is fairly typical of such 13th- century pattern-welded blades. The other knife blade is made of one heterogeneous piece of steel, distinguishing it from the majority of contemporary knives. The provenance of the knives remains unknown, but considering that the pattern-welded knife is the only find known from the territory of Croatia to date, it is very likely that is was imported.
The paper discusses the spatial, archaeological and possible historical circumstances as well as the chronological and workshop origins of the newly found early medieval K-type sword in Koljane, central Dalmatia. In concert with a preliminary discussion of fteen such swords in Croatia and of about 50 specimens of the same weapon found elsewhere in Eu- rope (seven in Ireland, 17 in Norway and 15 in various other countries, mainly of central Europe), it is hypothesised that it might have been made in Nordic (Viking) workshops in the second half of the 8th century. It is also correlated with a historical review of migratory movements of di- verse warlike groups, including the Croats, in the last years of that cen- tury. In a wider narrative context, as displayed and elaborated during the preparations for and production of the exhibition Croats and Caroling- ians, these migratory movements, which brought the Croats from the area of central and eastern Europe to the space in the mountainous hinterland of the eastern coast of the Adriatic, are related to the contemporaneous complex relations between the two empires, the Byzantine and the Caro- lingian.
Two Iron Swords from the lower course of the South Morava
A Step into the Past Approaches to Identity, Communications and Material Culture in South-Eastern European Archaeology, 2023
The paper analyses two iron swords that represent chance finds from the valley plains between the present-day cities of Niš and Aleksinac, within the lower course of the South Morava river. Both examples are well preserved double-edged swords utilised during two different periods. The first sword belongs to the collection of the Hometown Museum in Aleksinac. It was discovered during gravel extraction on the left bank of the South Morava river, between the villages of Lužane and Tešica. Without a doubt, the sword represents an early Celtic type, positioned into the LT B2/C1 period, based on existing analogies, or the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 3rd century BC. The other sword comes from the collection of the National Museum in Niš, where it was stored as a chance find from the village of Draževac. For years, the sword has been interpreted as a Late La Téne example. An audit analysis has shown that this sword, a long-term exhibition piece of the prehistoric collection, in fact, represents a solidly preserved Roman spatha. In conclusion, several military campaigns across the territory of the Central Balkans, along with their archaeological records, are analysed, in order to provide a comparison with the Celtic campaigns towards the southern Balkans in 279 BC, and provide a possible interpretation for the uncommon location of the sword.