An Auvernier-type sword

The bronze sword is preserved in a fragment on the side of the handle, where a small part of the broad blade is stuck. Decorative fullers (shallow indentations) and a serrated ricasso (unsharpened, upper part of the blade) are visible on it. The form of the richly decorated handle indicates that this is an Auvernier sword, the only such specimen known from Polish territory. The cradle of swords of the Auvernier type is the area of the north-western Alps. It is there, in the Late Bronze Age, that metallurgical workshops were located to produce weapons with such original handles. The sword from Witkowo dated to the 5th period of the Bronze Age (approx. 900-750 BC) was discovered at the end of the 19th century in a large hoard consisting of 23 axes, weapons, body and costume ornaments, elements of horse harness, and items connected with metallurgy and foundry work. The deposit was located at a depth of only 15 cm below the surface of a flooded meadow belonging to August Schiewer. All the bronze objects were placed in a sizeable earthenware pot next to a large stone.

Dorota Kozłowska