Hallo people,
those of you who took a look at the topic about yesterday's event may have seen that I finished forging my Picenian short sword.
Today it took me about 3 hours to polish it and sharpen it, and here's the result:




The sword is heavy, and unbalanced, but has a nice steel edge and, for the first time in my forging experience, I managed to turn iron into a truly reliable steel: when I used the file on the edge, I discovered that going from 3/4 of the blade to the tip, the file slip on the blade: this only happens on steel!
Now the bigger work is done; I have to make 3 or 4 holes on the sword to put a handle on it, and I'm going to build a sheath.

The sword is known as the "Novilara type", and was the first iron weapon that could outmatch the more sophisticated bronze ones.
Warriors took it to their chests, and that's why its tang is so inclined.
It was used from 8th to 7th Century b.C. in my Region, Croatia and Balkans; it traces its origins to some bronze knives that are widely spread in Hungary, Romania, Germany, Austria and Italy, even if it's obviously different in many aspects:




The original sword on which my replica is modeled, it has been found in a grave dating to the 7th Century b.C. in my town:


And a comparison between the original sword and my replica:


It took me about 7 hours to make this sword, and about 8 kilos of vegetal coal. All in 3 days of work.
What do you think of it?!
Greetings,
Mauro.

You're right, I have to explain better how this sword was used!
Picenian warriors carried this sword on their chests; the reason is unclear and I suspect that the sheath provided more protection to the body. Know that Picenian warriors were light infantry, and their defensive equipment was a small disc protecting their heart and a short skirt protecting their genitals.
Shield and greaves being optional, these defences left the stomach undercovered; when they begun adopting Greek weaponry in 6th century, the use of the shield spread and body defenses lost importance.

Since the sword was carried on the stomach, and the sheath had (perhaps) a defensive role, they find it useful to keep it inclined, therefore increasing the area defended by it.
And having an inclined tong allowed them to load the blow with the bare act of unsheathing the sword.

Let me show you what I mean:


Bronze swords I showed above are small knives indeed, and belong to an era which is much more ancient than my iron sword's. I just posted there to show you how the concept of curved blade survives in the transition between the Bronze and the Iron Age.

The following picture depicts the grave found in Ancona as it was when archaeologists discovered it; I circled the sword so you can see how inclined was the tang, now missing:


Greetings,
Mauro.

To be honest, we find weapons in every male's graves from 10th century to the Romanization, so they obviously went to war.
But how was their war?
Judging by the objects we find in the graves, and comparing the Picenian society with the Etruscan and Sabinian ones (their neighbors) I think that Picenians lived in a confederation of proto-towns, perhaps divided into tribes. The fact is that we don't have a single evidence of Picenians that are at war with each other, so perhaps they enjoyed long years of peace.
But they were also known as mercenaries and pirates, at least judging by Silio Italico's "Punica" and by archaeological evidences (the Novilara Stele, where a Picenian war ship defend a Greek merchant one by the attack of other Picenian pirates - and they fight with slings!).
Other traces of their ability in war are the fact that in inland's graves we find Greek helmets (war trophies) and that the Celts managed to conquer the Northern half of Piceno in 5th Century, before being stopped by the people living in my town.
But generally Picenian had good relationships with their neighbors, trading with Etruscans, Greeks and Celts, and the fact that Rome chose the Picenians as allies for their wars against these populations is somehow indicative of Picenian's skills as warrios.
They had light weaponry, nonetheless, as usual in archaic Italy: this because war was more a duel between heroes than the extermination and subjugation of the enemy. And the Region Marche (ancient Piceno) has great woods and hills, where a light equipment and a guerrilla-style works better than heavy infantry in close formations  
Greetings,
Mauro.

Looking forward to seeing it with a handle, I'm thinking cobolo or tiger stripe maple and have it bulge towards the back like a kukri handle. 

I'm a bit more of a wood worker than metal so that's what i'd like to see.

I have a fair amount of fighting knowledge and expierience but I'm a little low on archeological practice  so I think between the guys on this fourm and yourself, we can figure out almost exactly how they would have fought.

If I was running an army and had access to these warriors, I'd use them as scouts and sometimes very light infantry. The curved handle would seem to give similar properties to the blade as a curved blade, but simply hammering the tang down is a heck of a lot easier than making a kukri/falcata type design.

I think we get a false immage of 'warriors' from hollywood as only the guys with bows or guys covered head to toe in armor like knights and hoplites. When in reality, a suit of armor like that would cost thousands to 10's of thousands of dollars (obviously they used a different currency at the time, but same value) so any the very wealthy would have extensive armor. Your warriors look like a much more common set of soldiers, Heck most light infantry dressed in a similar fasion, minus the chest plate and just with the 'underarmor' and a sword.

This would indicate your warriors were either very expendable or quick on their feet, used in steep terrain, took on only small forces at a time, in a hot enviorment, and didn't engage in mass warfare as the spartans, knights, and smaurai did. Kind of like italian ninjas, but a little less asassin like and more like isrealite light infantry. In fact, with the similarity in rough terrain, you should probably check out isrealite light infantry tactics and you might get some more clues as to how your warriors fought.

Very good work.  I think that will work well in a slashing style of attack.  It would have been completely different than bronze weapons, which would have quickly made either the style of fighting and the weapons very old fashioned and very difficult to counter. 

And I think all males or most, would have carried weapons because there would not have been any state type government to make or enforce laws, hunt crimminals or protect people from wild animals.  Or keep your neighbors from taking everything you have.

Thanks, people!
I already wrote something on the evolution of the curved sword in Italy here: http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1327384530/30

And here's one of the few sculptures that the ancient Picenians left us: the Capestrano Warrior, 6th Century:


It's a votive sculpture, 2 meters tall, that was put on a grave to identify the dead.
It represent a very wealthy warrior, a prince, and being a funerary gift it has a mask and a cap that have never been used in war.
From the top, the warrior is equipped with a kardiophilax (the heart cuirass), a sword that he keep on his stomach, an axe (symbol of bot political and religious power), a skirt and greaves. He also has 2 throwing spears (engraved on a side) and he wears sandals, bracelets and a necklace, symbols of wealth.

He was a chief, therefore we can imagine many of his equipment was made in bronze (greaves, kardiophylax, accessories).
But he surely had iron spearheads, axe and sword.

The Picenian warrior I want to replicate is more ancient than this, so he's still a warrior worker (in fact, they found fishing gear in his grave together with his weapons). He already had iron weapons, even if less sophisticated that the Capestrano ones, but there's little bronze in his grave, so perhaps the defensive equipment was made with organic materials.
And yes, they defenitively warred with ambushes, raids and duels at that time 
Greetings,
Mauro.

What do you think? http://www.sunbody.com/index.cfm/product/85_3/guatemalan-charro-hat.cfm

Mauro Fiorentini wrote on Jun 5^th, 2012 at 2:03pm:

Fibulae are associated with straw hats in modern times. I wear one of these:

on one of these:
http://s7ondemand7.scene7.com/is/image/MensHats/sw~stetson-stratoliner-TS6129wid...;