Studies of Viking Age swords: metallography and archaeology

Abstract

The paper is a comment on Alan Williams investigation ‘A Metallurgical Study of some Viking Swords’ published in Gladius XXIX. Williams’ paper comprise metallurgical investigations of 44 Viking Age Swords, all with ULFBERHT inscriptions. Such investigations, made by a well qualified metallurgist, are essential to archaeology. Unfortunately, this one has some serious limitations. In order to give a good description of the quality of a sword-blade, samples showing at least the section through both the edge and the central part of the blade are necessary. This is mostly not the case in Williams’ investigations, and he gives insufficient information about his samples. Other weak points are his group division and his interpretation of the production area for blades containing high-carbon steel.