Sword

Villanovan T-hilt sword of copper alloy (bronze), with flanged hilt and crescent-shaped pommel. Blade is symmetrical, with double cutting edge and central spine, the planes from spine to cutting edges slightly concave. The hilt is formed of a continuation of the blade with raised flanges and traces of iron rivets to secure the (now lost) hilt, presumably originally of organic material. On each side of the central spine are carefully executed parallel lines rendered in cold work on the surface. The sword has been attributed by Drs. Ellen Macnamara and Anna Maria Bietti Sestieri to the Vulci group of the Early Iron Age, as known from southern Etruscan and South Italian finds. They have identified traces of what must have been a fine bronze sheath in shadow on the blade, and note that the missing hilt plates were possibly of wood, and were fastened to the sword by iron rivets. Conservation report 2.4.92 suggests that corrosion conditions indicate the partial burial of the hilt end to a greater extent, exposing this portion to more intense humidity (and thus corrosion) than the blade.