What did the First Swords Look Like?

Let's take a look at the oldest swords that we have evidence for. This weapon has its humble origins in relatively crude copper daggers, almost 6000 years ago. As ancient metalworkers developed their skills the blades grow gradually longer, eventually transitioning into copper swords.

Adding materials to copper and thereby creating alloys then led to the development of bronze swords, which were far more effective for fighting.

Bronze to the Limit: Destructive Testing of a Ewart Park Sword

*** Sources ***

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology

The macuahuitl : an innovative weapon of the Late Post-Classic in Mesoamerica (Arms and Armour 3(2):127-148 · October 2006)

The Greek Age of Bronze

The Early Sword

The Standard of Ur

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[TheLiamis]

"I have the biggest knife"
"No you dont, mine is bigger"
"well I'm calling yours a sword haha, my knifes still the biggest" and so the sword was born.

[cleanerben]

I have a feeling that the first sword was made as a joke.
"heh, you think that's a dagger, well look at THIS!"

[dreadthemadsmith]

**Someone holds up their unusually big knife**


Other Guy: Can you even call that a knife anymore?

[MrMetonicus]

It's like obscenity....you can't define it, but you know it when you see it.

[Semiotichazey]

The interesting thing about those Arslan Tepe swords is that even if they were unusable objects of ritual, I suspect they must have been inspired by actual swords in use at the time.

[Grim_Beard]

"That's not a dagger, _this_ is a dagger!"
"That's a sword."
"I see you've played daggery-swordy before."

[davepuxley]

I want to take the Archaeology course dedicated entirely to the historical appearance and meaning of the Triforce lol
"Triforce Ancient and Modern: Praxis and Pareidolia"
Thanks for this video - really fascinating work. The problem of definition in this case reminds me of the notion of 'family resemblance' in Wittgenstein's 'Philosophical Investigations'

[IsodorRodosi]

One theory of me about these old sword with their werid grips:


You say it yourself, they where cast in one piece. They probably casted them in an open clay form. so if they made the handle thick and round, the sword itself would have been thick and round. So instead, they casted them flat, and just sharpen the edge afterwards, thats why the handly also came out pretty flat. That thin handle probably could not support the sword itself, if they made it the same diameter of a common modern handle. In the end, they just made the handly wider, to give the whole thing more stability, without increasing the thickness off the whole castet pice.

Sure, they probably handled awfull, but still better than breaking as soon as you strike something.

[johnladuke]

Really setting yourself up for this, Skall... now you have to do a video on what the first pommels looked like.

Beyond the meme, that could actually be an interesting topic, how and when pommels began, and when they became a distinct piece of material added to the sword.

[purplehaze]

The term “Sword” is seemingly almost as undefinable as life.

[IPostSwords]

Glad to see the arslantepe swords get a mention, a fair candidate for the first swords.

[facina]

Oof. Those poor bastards trying to flint knap a short sword. That’s a lot of skill and patience.

[PACKERMAN]

I just spent the last ten minutes combing wookieepedia looking for a description of a vibroblade that I could copy and paste here to make a clever punny joke.

*_There's so much info I'm still looking._*

[KirkWilliams]

As my ninja friend always says, a sword is a sword unless it’s not... pretty vague honestly

[crgkevin]

Archaeology student here, and full disclosure, trained in southwestern prehistory, so this is not my area of expertise. Anyways, some speculation on the cast ritual swords found in the temple: Considering that they were likely ritual or decorative, function is not an immediate concern. Other examples of ceremonial weapons are often not very useable either. (Like the ritual Atlatl pipes from pre-Mississippian cultures in the southeast US.) The cast handles could’ve been intended to be displayed as is, without a wooden grip. Possibly so that the entire sword has a shiny appearance, including the area of the grip/hilt that’d normally be something like wood or leather. Comparing the contemporary example that has use wear and a narrower grip, I think that if the hilt had a wood and or leather grip covering the metal section, it could more closely resemble the broad hilts of the ceremonial examples. With the ceremonial ones still being exaggerated a bit to make them more impressive. This is all just some off-the-cuff speculation of course. But given the context of the artifacts, and comparisons to more “functional” contemporaries, that’d be my analysis.

[Nimno]

4 years ago? How did I miss this video? Love these kinds of weapon vids. Bring em back on a regular basis, please.

[mattbonner]

Very informative. I liked the images you used to show the designs of the swords, I think that really helped me understand, and I'm sure it was necessary for the uninitiated when it comes to sword design.

[carlossique]

Person: “HA THATS NOT A KNIFE THIS IS A KNIFE!”
Other person: “Well then this is a SWORD!”

[animistchannel]

Here's how you know if it's a knife/dagger or a sword: Ask yourself, "How would I feel about trying to eat with this at a table with other people?" If you're thinking, "Yah, I could see stabbin' some fruits and slicing some meats on my plate, maybe spread some jam on bread sensible enough" then it's a knife. If it makes you think, "Crap that's awkward, gonna knock half the dishes over from trying" then it's a sword. This covers both total length and design geometries in one go.

The Japanese blades are great examples, because they all have essentially the same design, and are all otherwise quite knifelike in geometry. Hopefully you realize: you'd have to be a real asshole to try to make a roast beef sandwich with a katana or wakizashi at a dinner party, but the tanto will do quite nicely, tyvm.

The other good example is the Bowie knife. They're all about the same design, but at some point in size they reach a level of awkwardness that isn't suited to being a fine southern gentleman over for dinner, even at an army camp.

Manners Maketh Man.

[proileri]

As an industrial designer, first definition of a sword that comes to mind would be "an edged weapon with a blade that has enough mass and length to be effective at making slashing cuts". Slashing is something you can't do well with a dagger, spear or an axe, but is an essential function in a gladius, for example.