A friend of mine sent me these pictures of clubs found in Northern Germany. The original ones are black from the bog, while a reconstructed model of each weapon is next to it. These are undoubtably clubs used for battle, while some of the more oddly shapped ones could have been fire hardened throwing clubs. There were also some wooden sword like objects found, resembling Germanic single edged swords. It's possible these were practice swords, and were sacrificed into the bog along with other weapons. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly where they were found, or what age they were dated to. Has anyone else seen these pictures and might know a bit more about them?
thanks
Dan
Dan Dalby
Group Leader Project Germani
Germanic Tribes of the 1st. cen. BCE to the 1st cen. CE
These artefacts have been published by
Peter Pieper: "Die taciteischen Annalen und die Holzfunde vom Bohlenweg XXV (Pr) zwischen Damme und Hunteburg" in:
W. Schlüter - R. Wiegels (Ed.)"Rom, Germanien und die Ausgrabungen von Kalkriese" (Osnabrück 1999) 509-526
There is an English summmary of this paper given:
"During excavations in August 1992 within the "Großes Moor", a peat bog between Damme and Hunteburg, Lower Saxony, several long wooden artifacts have been found which at first glance were thought to have been part of the way's construction. When the author by chance had a look upon a replica of one of these findings he spontaneously was convinced to see a kind of a wooden sword reminding him to the late medieval "Dussack". But, surprisingly enough, the objects could be dated back to the time between ca. 50 BC-AD 15 by means of radiocarbon method, calibrated by dendrochronology. And, the latter date, the year AD 15 was exactly the year when Germanicus as a Roman general tried to combat the Germanic tribes led by Arminius and his uncle Inguiomerus. In his annales Tacitus reports that the Germanic warriors were beaten at that time because of fencing only with wooden arms in majority."
All in all there have been ten of these objects found and some of them show "combat-traces".
There is however much doubt about Pieper's theory, because there are hundreds of wooden artifacts known which have indeed been part of the construction of these wooden ways. they're formed to be struck in the moor and prevent the wooden planks from slipping sideways. Some of them have their heads formed like god's idols.
Nice picture!
However, some objets look like clubs, but others look more like 'wooden swords', with the pointed bit being the weapon? I would agree with caution here: these objects indeed look rather more like wooden pegs than clubs, although some of the top row could indeed be used as clubs.
Robert Vermaat MODERATOR FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
Does anyone know the general size of them? If they're very large and unwieldly, they were most definately pegs for walkways, but if they are wieldable, then they could be used as clubs. As for the wooden swords, were they actually used for battle, or just for practice? Are the handles ont he 'wooden swords' also large enough to be wielded effectivley?
Dan Dalby
Group Leader Project Germani
Germanic Tribes of the 1st. cen. BCE to the 1st cen. CE
The measurements of the objects as given by Pieper are as follows:
First is the inventory-number with Arabic numeral of the original, the Roman numeral belongs to the reconstruction. Then the length of the original, in brackets of the reconstruction. Then the weight of the original, in brackets of the reconstruction.
They're a bit larger than I expected, but I would think you would want more reach with a club in battle. In my mind, the first three objects (from the left) in the first picture are clubs, and the fourth could be as well, but the last two look rather differant from the rest. Do we know at all how these moor walkways were constructed? Regarding the swords, they are larger than the finds of single edged swords from that period, so they could very well be part of the ways construction. However, since wood is lighter than iron, they could have made them bigger for greater effect in battle. We do know that the Aestii tribe used clubs for battle, so it would be reasonable to assume that other tribes might do so as well. Also, how large were these anthropormorphic statues that the Germanic tribes stuck into the bog? I think 70-80 cm is a bit small for such a statue, but not all were large like the finds in the Oberdorla Opfermoor. I've been considering making a copy of one of these clubs, and see if it is effective to wield. Do we know at all from what type of wood these finds were constructed? However, some types of wood that exist in Europe do not grow naturally in Canada, so I would have to find a similar wood that grows here.
Dan Dalby
Group Leader Project Germani
Germanic Tribes of the 1st. cen. BCE to the 1st cen. CE
Even if they were "wooden swords" the chance that they were intended for battle is extremely unlikely. At best they are practice weapons. If the dussack is being used as a comparison then that increases this likelihood since the dussack was also a practice weapon. I'd like to know how these guys can tell the difference between "combat" damage and "training" damage. And you don't put points on training weapons so the reconstructions are not all that useful. Considering the context in which they were found, a wooden "peg" of some sort is the best explaination. Most clubs don't have the flat faces that are evident on these items.
--Votive swords? Wooden representations of steel weapons, but made only for sacrifice.
--Weaving beaters? For beating the weft threads tightly into place as cloth is woven. Not the kind of thing I'd expect to find in a bog, though! But it would be natural for them to look like some of these objects.
--Oh, "scutches" for beating flax fibers, particularly the one at top right, but ditto above.
--Huh, that same one also reminds me of the mallet used with a splitting froe.
Obviously, clubs were used in battle! I just don't think they'd look like swords.
Matthew
Matthew Amt (Quintus)
Legio XX, USA
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