Irish Knives

[alchemy forge]

Bringing this one back from the dead, so to speak. Jake is right about the size of the "swords" that were used. The Irish, in addition to drinking, did a lot of cattle raiding- a cursory glance at their history will show that to be their primary form of "sport" Several descriptions have the total lenght of the sword at about the length of the forearm with the fingers extended- or about what you'd expect from a wakazashi. Light, fast blades, worn on the hip, double edged "leaf" patterns similar to what we've seen come from La Tene. ####ed bogs make it so anything that MIGHT have been ritually interred in Ireland (that's how they figure all that stuff ended up at La tene) is not likely to be found again because the highly acidic environment ate it.... grrrr.... plus a lot of the bogs were dug up for fuel and I'm sure these odd bits of metal were just thrown in the woods or the garbage piles.

Lady Gregory's books are as close to "history" as we have. Cunliffe's "Ancient Celts", while being shoddy history IMO, does have some good second and third hand accounts of continental celts and lots of pics. (don't get me started on his attributing the uniquely IRISH Druids with the rest of the Celts....) and there are a few other picture heavy books that are around.

Hope you all don't mind a little thread ressurection now and then

[J.Arthur Loose]

It's alive!

[alchemy forge]

Well, the thread is ONLY 3 years old... it's just a toddler and I want to give every thread every opportunity to grow up and be the best thread it can be

[J.Arthur Loose]

So cute the little thread!

Still looking into the name change, btw...

[sjaqua]

Just to give it a little more life

I think the Lisnacrogher sword is listed in the new study of British Iron Age Swords I just got. I'll try to remember to take a look tonight, if my spotty memory can hold out that long. If the book has it , I'll try to post a scan this week.

[Andrew Garrett]

This is very timely! I was invited to a wedding in Ireland next summer. I have been kicking around gift ideas, and of course, I thought of a knife.

I was leaning toward a cake cutting set, but now, given the location and family history, I'm thinking an Irish inspired display piece might be in order. Perhaps a 'his and hers' set...