Marks of Fire, Value and Faith: Swords with Ferrous Inlays in Finland During the Late Iron Age (ca. 700-1200 AD)
Marks of Fire, Value and Faith: Swords with Ferrous Inlays in Finland During the Late Iron Age (ca. 700-1200 AD) by Mikko Moilanen
2015 | ISBN: 9526732960 | English | 463 pages | PDF | 10 MB
2015 | ISBN: 9526732960 | English | 463 pages | PDF | 10 MB
Marks of Fire, Value and Faith explores swords with ferrous inlays found in Finland and dating from the late Iron Age, ca.700-1200 AD. These swords reflect profound changes not only in styles and fashion but in the technology of hilts and blades. This study explores how many of these kinds of swords are known from Finland, how they were made and where, what their status was in Late Iron Age Finland, and where the Finnish finds stand in accordance with other areas of Europe.
The swords are studied through multidisciplinary research, including traditional typologies as well as research methods from the natural sciences and also experimental archaeology. While the weight of this work lies in the inlays and their meanings, this study also inspects the swords not only from the surface but also from inside to achieve a thorough picture of the life cycle of iron inlaid swords. The colourful finds from Finland are represented in a catalogue at the end of this work.