To learn more about the swords, archaeologists may take X-rays of them and even revisit the site where they were found. “The closest that springs to mind was a pair of similar swords found in Canterbury-with their owners, face down in a pit within the city walls, clearly a clandestine burial, almost certainly a double murder.” “In terms of parallels, I can’t think of finds of more than one sword being deposited in any similar circumstance from Roman Britain,” says James in the statement. “It was not illegal for civilians to own such weapons and to carry them for traveling because Roman provinces were plagued with banditry,” per the statement.īecause of the troops’ extra height on horseback, spatha were typically “longer than the Roman gladius, which was often used by Roman foot soldiers,” as Jennifer Nalewicki writes for Live Science.įinding multiple Roman swords together in Britain is rare, according to Simon James, an archaeologist at England’s University of Leicester, who analyzed the weapons. ![]() Because of their long, straight blades, they were handy for Roman officers-or even civilians-to have with them while riding on horseback. The swords are likely a type of weapon known as a spatha, which Roman soldiers used from around the year 160 to the third century C.E. “Well, they have just given us some amazing examples of weapons used almost 2,000 years ago when Cirencester was the second biggest town in Britain.” “People famously asked, ‘What have the Romans ever done for us?’” says Paul Hodgkinson, the Cotswold District Council member for leisure, culture and health, in a statement. ![]() In March, Glenn Manning was attending a metal detectorist rally in the North Cotswolds, a region in southern England, when he stumbled upon the rare artifacts.Īrchaeologists are now studying the swords and hope to put them on display at the Corinium Museum in Cirencester, England, next year. A metal detectorist has unearthed a pair of 1,800-year-old Roman cavalry swords, still encased in the remnants of their wooden sheaths.
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