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18-487: Most commonly, sword scabbards were worn suspended from a sword belt or shoulder belt called a baldric . Scabbards have at least been around since the Bronze Age , and are thought to have existed as long as the blade has. Wooden scabbards were typically covered in fabric or leather; the leather versions also usually bore metal or leather fittings for added protection and carrying ease. All-metal scabbards were popular items for

36-653: A British archaeologist and academic. He was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2007. Since 2007, he has been an emeritus professor . Cunliffe's decision to become an archaeologist was sparked at the age of nine by the discovery of Roman remains on his uncle's farm in Somerset . Cunliffe studied at Portsmouth Northern Grammar School (now the Mayfield School ) and read archaeology and anthropology at St John's College, Cambridge . While

54-539: A display of wealth among elites in the European Iron Age , and often intricately decorated. Little is known about the scabbards of the early Iron Age, due to their wooden construction. However, during the Middle and late Iron Ages, the scabbard became important especially as a vehicle for decorative elaboration and social status. After 200 BC fully decorated scabbards became rare, but in their lesser extent existed well into

72-515: A great extent with short baldrics , carrying their swords quite high up. Japanese blades typically have their sharp cutting edge protected by a wooden scabbard called a saya . Entirely metal scabbards became popular in Europe early in the 19th century and eventually superseded most other types. Metal was more durable than leather and could better withstand the rigors of field use, particularly among troops mounted on horseback. In addition, metal offered

90-430: A slung baldric over the shoulder, allowing longer blades such as greatswords/zweihanders and nodachi/ōdachi to be strapped across the back, though these would have to be removed from the back before the sword could be unsheathed. In The Ancient Celts by Barry Cunliffe , Cunliffe writes, "All these pieces of equipment [shields, spears, swords, mail] mentioned in the texts, are reflected in the archaeological record and in

108-607: A student at the University of Cambridge , he ran and won an election against his course mate and fellow Johnian Colin Renfrew in order to become president of the University of Cambridge Archaeological Field Club (AFC). He became a lecturer at the University of Bristol in 1963. Fascinated by the Roman remains in nearby Bath he embarked on a programme of excavation and publication. In 1966, he became an unusually young professor when he took

126-512: Is called the throat , which is often part of a larger scabbard mount , or locket , that bears a carrying ring or stud to facilitate wearing the sword. The blade's point in leather scabbards is usually protected by a metal tip , or chape , which, on both leather and metal scabbards, is often given further protection from wear by an extension called a drag , or shoe . [REDACTED] Media related to Scabbards at Wikimedia Commons Baldric Too Many Requests If you report this error to

144-734: The Iron Age . In his later works, he sets out the thesis that Celtic culture originated along the length of the Atlantic seaboard in the Bronze Age before being taken inland, which stands in contrast to the more generally accepted view that Celtic origins lie with the Hallstatt culture of the Alps . One of his most recent projects has been in the Najerilla valley , La Rioja , Spain, which straddles "the interface between

162-768: The Danebury Environs Programme (1989–1995). His interest in Iron Age Britain and Europe generated a number of publications and he became an acknowledged authority on the Celts . Other sites he has worked on include Hengistbury Head in Dorset , Mount Batten in Devon , Le Câtel in Jersey , and Le Yaudet in Brittany , reflecting his interest in the communities of Atlantic Europe during

180-536: The Medieval period. A number of ancient scabbards have been recovered from weapons sacrifices , a few of which had a lining of fur on the inside. The fur was probably kept oily, keeping the blade free from rust. The fur would also allow a smoother, quicker draw, and protect the blade. In classical antiquity , Greek scabbards often had ornamental metal fittings, characteristic of the Iron Age. The Roman army used scabbards to

198-475: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 816207920 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 08:47:57 GMT Barry Cunliffe Sir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe , CBE , FBA , FSA (born 10 December 1939), known as Barry Cunliffe , is

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216-630: The ability to present a more military appearance, as well as the opportunity to display increased ornamentation. Nevertheless, leather scabbards never entirely lost favor among military users and were widely used as late as the American Civil War (1861–1865). As late as the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, swords and leather scabbards were still being carried on active service by the military officers of participating nations. Metal scabbards had however been withdrawn as noisy, heavy and likely to blunt

234-525: The back scabbard depicted in the film Braveheart and the back scabbard seen in the video game series The Legend of Zelda . This has facilitated the modern anachronism colloquially known as a shabbard , developed by YouTuber and novel writer Shad Brooks. It uses a flat plate attached to the sheath which more easily guides even large swords into the scabbard. There is some limited data from woodcuts and textual fragments that Mongol light horse archers, Chinese soldiers, Japanese samurai and European knights wore

252-443: The back, but only by a handful of Celtic tribes, and only with very short lengths of sword. This is because drawing a long, sharp blade over one's shoulder and past one's head from a scabbard on the back is relatively awkward, especially in a hurry, and the length of the arm sets a hard upper limit on how long a blade can be drawn at all in this way. Sheathing the sword again is even harder since it has to be done effectively blind unless

270-610: The blades of newly sharpened swords. In the event swords and scabbards were quickly discarded except for use by mounted cavalry. Some military police forces, naval shore patrols, law enforcement and other groups used leather scabbards as a kind of truncheon . On the other hand, in Japan, except for some cases of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy, water-resistant lacquered wooden scabbards have been used throughout history. Scabbards were historically, albeit rarely, worn across

288-582: The chair at the newly founded Department of Archaeology at the University of Southampton . There he became involved in the excavation (1961–1968) of the Fishbourne Roman Palace in West Sussex . Another site in southern England led him away from the Roman period. He began a long series of summer excavations (1969–1988) of the Iron Age hill fort at Danebury , Hampshire and was subsequently involved in

306-465: The scabbard is taken off first. Common depictions of long swords being drawn from the back are a modern invention, born from safety and convenience considerations on a film set and typically enabled by creative editing, and have enjoyed such great popularity in fiction and fantasy that they are widely and incorrectly believed to have been common in Medieval times . Some more well-known examples of this include

324-474: The surviving iconography, though it is sometimes possible to detect regional variations" (page 94). Among the Parisii of Yorkshire , for example, the "...sword was sometimes worn across the back and therefore had to be drawn over the shoulder from behind the head." Modern knife sheaths are frequently made of polymer materials such as Kydex . The metal fitting where the blade enters the leather or metal scabbard

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