Sauerbrunn-type Sword

This bronze sword, approximately sixty-four centimeters long, comes from the territory of Cervarese Santa Croce and was found along the course of the Bacchiglione River. It is now preserved at the Museo del fiume Bacchiglione, in the Castello di San Martino della Vaneza, and can be dated to between the 16th and 15th centuries BCE, during the Middle Bronze Age.

The weapon belongs to the Sauerbrunn type, a typology widespread in Central Alpine Europe and characterized by a simple, rounded, and expanded base. Two holes are present at the base for metal rivets, which were used to secure the handle, originally made of organic materials such as wood or bone. Just above the base, a slight narrowing connects the hilt to the blade, which develops in a slender and regular form.

The blade is particularly long and features a strongly pronounced central ridge with a triangular cross-section, which increased its structural strength. The decoration, executed with a burin, is concentrated mainly near the base: here two inward-rolled volutes appear, interpreted as a pair of stylized eyes. From this motif extend groups of incised lines, alternating with bands of dense transverse hatching, which accompany the development of the blade. The ornamentation continues along the edges with two initially parallel lines that gradually converge toward the central ridge as they approach the tip.

This decorative scheme was not merely aesthetic but also carried strong symbolic significance. The “eye” motif endowed the sword with a kind of vital, almost magical appearance, as if the weapon possessed its own identity. The idea that swords could accompany and protect their owner is well attested in mythological traditions and epic narratives, in which the most famous weapons often bear a proper name and assume an almost personal role in the hero’s story.

In this sense, the Sauerbrunn-type sword should be understood not only as a weapon of combat but also as an object charged with symbolic and ritual meanings. Its discovery in a riverine context, such as that of the Bacchiglione, further recalls practices of intentional deposition of weapons in water, widespread during the Bronze Age and possibly linked to offering rituals or religious beliefs connected with the natural world.

Bianchin Citton, E.; Malnati, L. 2001, Protostoric Bronze Finds from the Rivers of the Veneto, in G. Cresci Marrone and M. Tirelli (eds.), Horizons of the Sacred: Cults and Ancient Sanctuaries in Altinum and Eastern Veneto, Proceedings of the Conference (Venice 1999), Rome, pp. 201–202.

The “eye” decoration at the base of swords of this type endowed them with an almost animate, quasi-magical appearance. The practice of attributing a distinct identity to weapons—believed to accompany and protect their owner—is well documented in mythological sagas and literary traditions, where the swords of heroes often bear personal names (such as Excalibur, Arthur’s sword; Hrunting in Beowulf; or Gramr, wielded by Sigurd).