Borgo Valbelluna (BL), fraz. Lentiai. La spada dell’età del Bronzo restituita dal fiume Piave, dal rinvenimento all’esposizione museale

The sword IG 369328 was casually found in the bed of the Piave River (Municipality of Borgo Val Belluna - BL) and was promptly handed over to the competent archaeological authorities by its finder. Visual examination ruled out that the river environment or recent human actions had caused macroscopic damage. Prior to restoration, the find was examined under a stereo-optical microscope guiding the safe removal of micro-samples needed by archaeometric studies (SEM-EDS, XRD, EPMA and Lead Isotopes Analysis-LIA). Thanks to restoration, we were able to restore the full legibility to the artifact through the removal of deposits attributable to the layering, while the extraction of the more soluble corrosion products helped to stabilize the patina. The sword (length 61.3 cm, weight 630 g) is a good-quality weapon, cast in a bivalve matrix and then carefully finished by smithing. It consists of a blade with a broad median rib, a short quadrangular tang of square shape, and part of the original handle. This latter – in fact, only the portion covering the base of the blade to which it is attached with two symmetrical passing rivets – could be attributed to class “full-handled bronze swords with oval or discoidal pommel”, dated between a full phase of the Middle Bronze Age and the early Recent Bronze Age. Prior to its deposition in the river as a votive offering (presumably at a ford) by a “sword bearer”/warrior, it would have undergone “a ritual deformation of a mechanical type” that broke and removed most of the haft.