Two-edged sword

A double-edged iron sword from Lubiatowo in the Pyrzyce district. The sword was found in unknown circumstances at the end of the 19th century, most probably 1896, in the marshes situated southeast of the centre of the village of Lubiatowo in the Pyrzyce district. In the archival records, the place where the sword was found is described as a Phalbau - a building on stilts. In addition to medieval items, objects dating to the Neolithic period were found there. The sword from Lubiatowo - the head together with the handle - is wholly preserved. The head, the part of the sword with which the blows are inflicted, has blades on both sides. It is massive and broad, ending with a rounded hilt. On both surfaces, the so-called amphibians, one can observe the characteristic "herringbone", which testifies how the head was produced: the core was made of two twisted rods, low- and high-carbon, forming the nucleus and blade caps were added on both sides. The sword hilt on which the handle is set is narrow and tapers slightly towards the head, i.e., the end of the triangle handle. The hilt, located between the head and the handle, is short and high. In the systematics of early medieval swords by the Scandinavian researcher Jan Petersen, the sword from Lubiatowo is currently described as type C of specimens made in the 9th century in Norway.

Sławomir Słowiński