ECHTEN

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Replica of the sword from Echten, Netherland Classification: type Sögel - Weight: c.610 grams - Length: 54 cm - Material: bronze (Cu90Sn10). Edge: hardened through cold hammering, ground - Original:Echten, Netherland (Drent Museum). Scabbard and sword-belt available, please contact info@warriorbronze.com for options and prices.
	The Echten sword The Echten sword was discovered near Drent in the Netherlands in 2017. It is of the first generation swords in Europe, and may be classified as a Sögel type blade with extra ornamentation and a bronze pommel. The Sögel type sword is defined as a relative short, narrow, ogival blade, with a broad, rounded upper hilt-plate ( Griffplatte), with four, sometimes five, holes for rivets with large dome-shaped washers (Ringniete). It is often considered to be strongly inspired by metal-hilted swords of the Hajdusamson-Apa type, and thus as the products of a northwestern area of production in contact with the Carpathians. The original sword from Echten. The sword from Echten might be seen as a Sögel type blade with a more complex ornamentation than usual, and a bronze pommel added to the common organic hilt. That the blade smiths of the “Sögel-Kreis” also experimented with complex hilts is also seen in a group of swords with semi-bronze hilts: Nebra and Rastorf in Germany, and Roum in Jutland, Denmark. Quite extraordinary, these three swords/daggers seem to have one half hilt made of bronze, and the other of wood or bone. Since the rivets with washers are intact (on Nebra and Rastorf), there should be no chance that a second bronze hilt section is lost in these cases. These swords are of interest in our case because the pommels on the Nebra and Roum hilts are very close in shape and dimensions to the pommel from Echten. The swords/daggers from Nebra (left, Meller 2010), Rastorf (centre, Aner & Kersten: no. 10120E) and Roum (right, Aner & Kersten: no. 6179). The burial assemblage from Drouwen included more classic Sögel type blade. Literature: Arnoldussen, S. & van der Sanden, W. 2017: Een Sögel-Wohlde-Zwaard Uit Het Dal Van Het Oude Diep Bij Echten (Dr.). Paleo Aktueel 28: 17-25 . Bianco Peroni, V. 1970: Die Schwerter in Italien. Le spade nell'Italia continentale. Prähistorische Bronzefunde IV, 1. München. Laux, F. 2009: Die Schwerter in Niedersachsen. Prähistorische Bronzefunde IV, 17. Franz Steiner Verlag. Stuttgart. Meller, H. 2010: Nebra: Vom Logos zum Mythos – Biographie eines Himmelsbildes. In: Meller, H. & Bertemes, F., Der Griff nach den Sternen. Tagungen des Landesmuseums für Vorgeshichte Halle 5/1: 23-73. Schauer, P. 1971: Die Schwerter in Süddeutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz I. Griffplatten-, Griffangel- und Griffzungenschwerter. Prahistorische Bronzefunde IV, 2. München.

Replica of the sword from Echten, Netherland

Classification: type Sögel - Weight: c.610 grams - Length: 54 cm - Material: bronze (Cu90Sn10).

Edge: hardened through cold hammering, ground - Original:Echten, Netherland (Drent Museum).

Scabbard and sword-belt available, please contact info@warriorbronze.com for options and prices.

The Echten sword

The Echten sword was discovered near Drent in the Netherlands in 2017. It is of the first generation swords in Europe, and may be classified as a Sögel type blade with extra ornamentation and a bronze pommel.

The Sögel type sword is defined as a relative short, narrow, ogival blade, with a broad, rounded upper hilt-plate ( Griffplatte), with four, sometimes five, holes for rivets with large dome-shaped washers (Ringniete). It is often considered to be strongly inspired by metal-hilted swords of the Hajdusamson-Apa type, and thus as the products of a northwestern area of production in contact with the Carpathians.

The original sword from Echten.

The sword from Echten might be seen as a Sögel type blade with a more complex ornamentation than usual, and a bronze pommel added to the common organic hilt. That the blade smiths of the “Sögel-Kreis” also experimented with complex hilts is also seen in a group of swords with semi-bronze hilts: Nebra and Rastorf in Germany, and Roum in Jutland, Denmark. Quite extraordinary, these three swords/daggers seem to have one half hilt made of bronze, and the other of wood or bone. Since the rivets with washers are intact (on Nebra and Rastorf), there should be no chance that a second bronze hilt section is lost in these cases. These swords are of interest in our case because the pommels on the Nebra and Roum hilts are very close in shape and dimensions to the pommel from Echten.

The swords/daggers from Nebra (left, Meller 2010), Rastorf (centre, Aner & Kersten: no. 10120E) and Roum (right, Aner & Kersten: no. 6179).

The burial assemblage from Drouwen included more classic Sögel type blade.

Literature:

Arnoldussen, S. & van der Sanden, W. 2017: Een Sögel-Wohlde-Zwaard Uit Het Dal Van Het Oude Diep Bij Echten (Dr.). Paleo Aktueel 28: 17-25 .

Bianco Peroni, V. 1970: Die Schwerter in Italien. Le spade nell'Italia continentale. Prähistorische Bronzefunde IV, 1. München.

Laux, F. 2009: Die Schwerter in Niedersachsen. Prähistorische Bronzefunde IV, 17. Franz Steiner Verlag. Stuttgart.

Meller, H. 2010: Nebra: Vom Logos zum Mythos – Biographie eines Himmelsbildes. In: Meller, H. & Bertemes, F., Der Griff nach den Sternen. Tagungen des Landesmuseums für Vorgeshichte Halle 5/1: 23-73.

Schauer, P. 1971: Die Schwerter in Süddeutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz I. Griffplatten-, Griffangel- und Griffzungenschwerter. Prahistorische Bronzefunde IV, 2. München.