Cruisader sword found in Isreal

Jim McDougall · 20th October 2021, 04:15 PM

It will be fascinating to follow the conservation of this sword, which will of course take some time if done properly. Like most artifacts recovered from shipwrecks, they must be kept in tanks with very gradual removal of concretions. What has preserved the iron within (hopefully) is that concretion which has sealed it away from oxygen, which is necessary for the corrosive process. Often in these cases the object encased will either disintegrate or possibly have already gone, with its impression cast in the concreted material.

There have been relatively few crusades period swords found in situ, and I think the last I ever heard of was Artzi's around 2008.
Most others known were held in arsenals, and sadly there were enormous numbers scrapped in the years after the crusades.

Interestingly during the late 18th into 19th century, many swords of these periods were piled into surplus stores and many were dispersed, through Malta, into North Africa. There was a time when many of these turned up on native swords in the Sahara and in the 19th century in the Sudan, but those have pretty much been collected up (Briggs, 1965).

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20th October 2021, 04:15 PM	#7
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,453	It will be fascinating to follow the conservation of this sword, which will of course take some time if done properly. Like most artifacts recovered from shipwrecks, they must be kept in tanks with very gradual removal of concretions. What has preserved the iron within (hopefully) is that concretion which has sealed it away from oxygen, which is necessary for the corrosive process. Often in these cases the object encased will either disintegrate or possibly have already gone, with its impression cast in the concreted material. There have been relatively few crusades period swords found in situ, and I think the last I ever heard of was Artzi's around 2008. Most others known were held in arsenals, and sadly there were enormous numbers scrapped in the years after the crusades. Interestingly during the late 18th into 19th century, many swords of these periods were piled into surplus stores and many were dispersed, through Malta, into North Africa. There was a time when many of these turned up on native swords in the Sahara and in the 19th century in the Sudan, but those have pretty much been collected up (Briggs, 1965).