Iron Sword
- This sword blade was made by a skilled blacksmith and its shape and style suggest a date of the second or first century BC. Made of iron, it probably once had a pommel of bronze or iron, and a bone or antler handle.
- Analysis of the swords from Llyn Cerrig Bach shows that some were given hardened steel-like surfaces, through a smithing process called carburisation.
- Two of the sword blades have a crescentic shaped stamp at the hilt end of the blade. These may have been the blacksmith's stamp, or of symbolic significance.
- We think this sword was deliberately bent. On the continent there are examples of the 'killing' of weapons (i.e. rendering them useless), before being deposited.
- What remains of the sword is 898mm long, 47mm wide, and 6mm thick. The surviving weight is 626.1g.
