Double-edged swords and polearms of western origin in the territory of present-day Serbia: an overview and reinterpretation

Abstract

Findings of weapons of western – Late Carolingian origin are not a common occurrence in the territory of today’s Serbia. Around twenty examples are known, with approximately half of them being double-edged swords, and the rest axes and spearheads. The weapons are primarily concentrated in Vojvodina and the Serbian part of the Danube valley; these territories represent the furthest south-eastern periphery of the appearance of Carolingian weapons in Central Europe. Items we will discuss here have mostly been already published in catalogues, review papers, or individually in professional articles, but they have not been gathered in one place before. Several of the swords have been analysed by Z. Vinski and L. Kovács in the 1980’s and 1990s, and in the meantime, I. Fodor, D. Mrkobrad and M. Aleksić focused their attentions on a number of other specimens of swords and battle axes. Most recently, A. Sajdl wrote about winged spearheads.The goal of this paper is to provide a complete overview of all the weapons, with their typological and production characteristics, for a wider scientific public and possibly discuss new details where necessary (in accordance with capabilities i.e., current availability of the material). Considering the fact that those were accidental or insufficiently documented findings from graves, there are no conditions for contextual analysis and a closer interpretation of the socio-symbolic role of the weapons. On the other hand, available specimens represent evidence of political events and broader interregional contacts in the period between the 9th and the 11th century. In this sense, pieces with an earlier dating, otherwise few in number, can be interpreted in the context of the expansion of influence of the Carolingian Empire, and indirectly, the Principality of Great Moravia as well, while pieces from the second half of the 10th and the 11th century are thus linked to the expansion of the Hungarian state towards the Balkans.