Snake swords and barbed spearheads: the visibility of pattern-welding
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Abstract
Overall there has been little attention paid to how iron objects from the pre-modern era would have looked in so far as surface colour and texture is concerned. Some of this can be deduced by identifying the combinations of alloys, both ferrous and non-ferrous used to form the surface and some studies have examined this. Less attention has been paid to what evidence for the original appearance survives on the objects themselves, largely because archaeological (or any) survival is generally so poor. On its own, this does not amount to much, but used in combination with some fragments of evidence that can be gleaned from contemporary illustrations, plus early descriptions, it can enable us to say much more especially with reference to specialised decorative techniques such as pattern-welding. Surviving Iron Age to early medieval evidence for the appearance of pattern-welding in Europe is examined in this study.
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