Casgliadau Arlein

Largely complete iron sword with a short slender blade tapering from a rounded shoulder. The tang is of square cross-section and tapers slightly towards a domed terminal with fragments of the central segment of a bone or antler handle surviving. The hilt guard is missing but the rounded shoulders suggest is was likley to have been of campanulate shape. Parallels can be found amongst the La Tene I and II Arras burials of East Yorkshire although only one, from Rudston grave-group R154, is of comparable length, the majority being 150-200mm longer (Stead, 1991, 206, fig.112). X-rays of the sword hilt revealed two circular rivets for attatching the lower segment of the handle preserved within the corrosion above the shoulder but these did not apparently survive cleaning. A sword from Rudston grave R24 is far more elaborate but shows the positioning of similar rivets (Stead, 1191, 190, fig. 103).