Editing Sword (section)

====Bronze Age====
{{Main|Bronze Age sword}}
[[File:Apa Schwerter.jpg|thumb|Apa-type swords, 17th-century BC]]
[[File:Nebra Schwerter.jpg|thumb|The swords found together with the [[Nebra sky disk]], c. 1600 BC]]

The first weapons that can be described as "swords" date to around 3300 BC. They have been found in [[Arslantepe]], Turkey, are made from [[arsenical bronze]], and are about {{convert|60|cm|in|abbr=on}} long.<ref>Frangipane, M. et.al. (2010). "The collapse of the 4th millennium centralised system at Arslantepe and the far-reaching changes in 3rd millennium societies". ''ORIGINI XXXIV'', 2012: 237–60.</ref><ref name=KAY>{{cite book |author=[[K. Aslihan Yener|Yener, K. Aslihan]] |title= The Domestication of Metals: The Rise of Complex Metal Industries in Anatolia |pages= 52–53 |year= 2021 |publisher= BRILL |series= Culture and History of the Ancient Near East (Vol. 4) |isbn= 978-9004496934 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=_s1GEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 |access-date= 15 January 2024}}</ref> Some of them are inlaid with [[silver]].<ref name=KAY/>

The sword developed from the knife or dagger. The sword became differentiated from the dagger during the Bronze Age (''c.'' 3000 BC), when copper and bronze weapons were produced with long leaf-shaped blades and with hilts consisting of an extension of the blade in handle form. A knife is unlike a [[dagger]] in that a knife has only one cutting surface, while a dagger has two cutting surfaces.<ref>{{Cite web |title=sword {{!}} weapon {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/sword |access-date=2022-05-01 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Construction of longer blades became possible during the 3rd millennium BC in the Middle East, first in [[Arsenical copper|arsenic copper]], then in tin-bronze.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ramsey |first=Syed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MCQzDAAAQBAJ&dq=Construction+of+longer+blades+became+possible+during+the+3rd+millennium+BC+in+the+Middle+East&pg=PT118 |title=Tools of War: History of Weapons in Ancient Times |date=2016-05-12 |publisher=Vij Books India Pvt Ltd |isbn=978-93-86019-80-6 |language=en}}</ref>

Blades longer than {{convert|60|cm|in|abbr=on}} were rare and not practical until the late Bronze Age because the [[Young's modulus]] (stiffness) of [[bronze]] is relatively low, and consequently longer blades would bend easily.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Breverton |first=Terry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VepgBQAAQBAJ&dq=Blades+longer+than+60+cm+Bronze+Age+.&pg=PT39 |title=Breverton's Encyclopedia of Inventions: A Compendium of Technological Leaps, Groundbreaking Discoveries and Scientific Breakthroughs that Changed the World |date=2012-04-26 |publisher=Quercus |isbn=978-1-78087-340-4 |language=en}}</ref> The development of the sword out of the dagger was gradual; the first weapons that can be classified as swords without any ambiguity are those found in [[Minoan Crete]], dated to about 1700 BC, reaching a total length of more than {{convert|100|cm|in|abbr=on}}. These are the "type A" swords of the [[Aegean Bronze Age]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ramsey |first=Syed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MCQzDAAAQBAJ&dq=the+first+weapons+that+can+be+classified+as+swords+without+any+ambiguity+are+those+found+in+Minoan+Crete&pg=PT119 |title=Tools of War: History of Weapons in Ancient Times |date=2016-05-12 |publisher=Vij Books India Pvt Ltd |isbn=978-93-86019-80-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sandars |first=N. K. |date=1961 |title=The First Aegean Swords and Their Ancestry |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/502497 |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=17–29 |doi=10.2307/502497 |jstor=502497 |issn=0002-9114}}</ref>

One of the most important, and longest-lasting, types of swords of the [[European Bronze Age]] was the ''Naue II'' type (named for [[Julius Naue]] who first described them), also known as ''Griffzungenschwert'' ({{lit|grip-tongue sword}}). This type first appears in c. the 13th century BC in [[Terramare culture|Northern Italy]] (or a general [[Urnfield]] background), and survives well into the Iron Age, with a life-span of about seven centuries. During its lifetime, metallurgy changed from bronze [[Iron Age sword|to iron]], but not its basic design.<ref>{{Cite book |last=PutraDanayu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVcmEAAAQBAJ&dq=One+of+the+most+important,+and+longest-lasting,+types+swords+of+the+European+Bronze+Age+was+the+Naue+II+type&pg=PA413 |title=Sword: Tell about sword in human history |date=2021-03-30 |publisher=Putra Ayu |language=en }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Naue II swords were exported from Europe to the Aegean, and as far afield as [[Ugarit]], beginning about 1200 BC, i.e. just a few decades before the final collapse of the palace cultures in the [[Bronze Age collapse]].<ref>Jung, R.; M. Mehofer (2008). "A sword of Naue II type from Ugarit and the Historical Significance of Italian type Weaponry in the Eastern Mediterranean", ''Aegean Archaeology'' 8, 111–36.</ref> Naue II swords could be as long as 85&nbsp;cm, but most specimens fall into the 60 to 70&nbsp;cm range. [[Robert Drews]] linked the Naue Type II Swords, which spread from Southern Europe into the Mediterranean, with the [[Bronze Age collapse]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Drews |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Drews |year=1995 |title=The end of the Bronze Age: changes in warfare and the catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C |publisher=Princeton University Press |edition=revised |pages=197–204 |isbn=978-0-691-02591-9}}{{clarify|date=September 2015}}<!--what does this mean? "linked" how?--></ref> Naue II swords, along with Nordic full-hilted swords, were made with functionality and aesthetics in mind.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1080/00293652.2014.920907|title = Tales of Hoards and Swordfighters in Early Bronze Age Scandinavia: The Brand New and the Broken|journal = Norwegian Archaeological Review|volume = 47|pages = 18–41|year = 2014|last1 = Melheim|first1 = Lene|last2 = Horn|first2 = Christian|s2cid = 162347126 |issn=0029-3652 }}</ref> The hilts of these swords were beautifully crafted and often contained false rivets in order to make the sword more visually appealing. Swords coming from northern Denmark and northern Germany usually contained three or more fake rivets in the hilt.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bunnefeld|first=Jan-Heinrich|date=December 2016|title=Crafting Swords. The emergence and production of full-hilted swords in the Early Nordic Bronze Age|journal=Praehistorisches Zeitschrift |volume=91 |pages=384 |via=EBSCO host}}</ref>

[[Chinese swords|Sword production in China]] is attested from the Bronze Age [[Shang dynasty]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Chang |first=K. C.|year=1982 |title=Studies of Shang Archaeology |publisher=Yale University Press |pages=6–7|isbn=978-0-300-03578-0}}</ref> The technology for bronze swords reached its high point during the Warring States period and Qin dynasty. Amongst the Warring States period swords, some unique technologies were used, such as casting high tin edges over softer, lower tin cores, or the application of diamond shaped patterns on the blade (see [[sword of Goujian]]). Also unique for Chinese bronzes is the consistent use of high tin bronze (17–21% tin) which is very hard and breaks if stressed too far, whereas other cultures preferred lower tin bronze (usually 10%), which bends if stressed too far. Although iron swords were made alongside bronze, it was not until the early [[Han period]] that iron completely replaced bronze.<ref name=HanIron/>

In the [[Indian subcontinent]], earliest available [[Bronze age sword]]s of copper were discovered in the [[Indus Valley civilization]] sites in the northwestern regions of [[South Asia]]. Swords have been recovered in archaeological findings throughout the [[Ganges]]-[[Jamuna River (Bangladesh)|Jamuna]] [[Doab]] region of Indian subcontinent, consisting of [[bronze]] but more commonly [[copper]].<ref name=allchin111-114>Allchin, pp. 111–14.</ref> Diverse specimens have been discovered in [[Fatehgarh]], where there are several varieties of hilt.<ref name=allchin111-114/> These swords have been variously dated to times between 1700 and 1400 BC. Other swords from this period in India have been discovered from [[Kallur archaeological site#Swords|Kallur, Raichur]].<ref name=allchin111-114/>