Humans
Ancient weaponsmiths combined bronze and iron to fashion swords during the early Iron Age – but modern forgers glue together elements from different weapons, making it difficult for researchers to study the ancient technology
By Jeremy Hsu
These ancient swords have been modified by forgers
Alex Rodzinka
Imaging technology has revealed that ancient swords smuggled into the UK recently have been altered by modern-day forgers, who replaced many of the original iron blades with bronze ones. What’s more, many similar swords in museums worldwide may also be tainted by modern forgery.
The swords in question come from what is now Iran and date to an important moment in history: the end of the Bronze Age and beginning of the Iron Age. As the names suggest, this marked a technological shift as iron became the metal of…
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