Technical examination and conservation of the early medieval sword from Bojna-Brekinjova Kosa

0568793 - ARÚ 2023 RIV HR eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Doračić, D. - Hošek, Jiří - Brauns, M. - Miletić Čakširan, I.
Technical examination and conservation of the early medieval sword from Bojna-Brekinjova Kosa.
Secrets of iron - from raw material to an iron object. Zagreb: Institut za arheologiju, 2022 - (Sekelj Ivančan, T.; Karavidović, T.; Tkalčec, T.; Krznar, S.; Belaj, J.), s. 195-206. Zbornik Instituta za arheologiju, 20. ISBN 978-953-6064-66-3.
[International conference on mediaeval archaeology /7./. Zagreb (HR), 10.09.2020-11.09.2020]
Institutional support: RVO:67985912
Keywords : Bojna-Brekinjova Kosa * sword * conservation-restoration * metallography * osmium isotope analysis
OECD category: Archaeology

The article discusses the early medieval sword discovered accidentally in 2011 during the exploitation of the quarry at Bojna-Brekinjova Kosa in Sisak-Moslavina County (Croatia). Subsequent rescue archaeological excavations of the site resulted in the discovery of an early medieval graveyard from the pre-Romanesque period with finds of major importance for early medieval Croatian history. During and after the conservation-restoration treatment of the sword, additional technical investigations were carried out to gain a better understanding of the artefact, to reconstruct the manufacturing techniques and to trace potential source(s) of iron used to make the sword. According to the metallographic examination, the blade was pattern-welded and presumably constructed from nine rods, of which only four were pattern-welded composites, while the osmium isotope analysis suggests that iron used in the manufacture of the sword could have come from deposits in Swabian Jura, southwestern Germany or Lorraine in eastern France.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0340154