The Sword of Gou Jian

In 1965, a 2000 year old sword was discovered it a watery tomb, still sharp and uncorroded. Yes, this is real and not a line from a fantasy novel.

Apparently, it has a unique blend of metals and compounds that made it resist even tarnishing after laying in water for 2000 years. The ancient civilizations were more advanced in some ways than many people think. This reminds me of the Greek Parthenon, which had been damaged by many centuries and war, had metal stays in it that resisted corrosion until some British tried to replace them with unprotected iron which ended up rusting. Those were later replaced by Titanium. 

1. I bought a 2800 year old Chinese sword from Sotheby’s a few years back. It had been dug up from a dig that was in bentonite clay.  The forces of ground movement had bent the sword a bit, giving it a wavy look, but the thing that blew me away was that after the clay had been cleaned off, areas of the blade were still sharp enough to cut your finger...after 2800 years!
   I later sold it to a Japanese swordmaker who planned to straighten and repolish it for study.  I never did find out how that went.  I was curious to see if the blade had been quench-hardened.
   Ancient peoples were not stupider than us, they just did not have efficient methods for storing and transmitting information that made it hard for them to “stand on the shoulders of giants,” so they were constantly expending effort “reinventing the wheel” (or in the case of the Egyptians, not). Certainly they stumbled on some ideas that are (or would be) of value for us even today, but, for example, since no one wrote down exactly how that sword was made, it’s unlikely that knowledge will ever be of any use to us.  Sure, we can use various techniques to determine the composition of the blade in excruciating detail, but as any metallurgist will tell you, that’s barely a starting point.
   A lot of people think of our ancestors as being a little inept and clueless.  Even scientists can fall prey to this bias, as shown by the Iceman.  All previous recreations of the clothes and personal items of bronze age man had assumed they would be fairly crude, so it was a real shock when they started examining Otzi and discovered the astounding quality of the workmanship on every item. I’ve seen close-ups of the stitching on his garments and a Savile Row tailor could hardly do better. I also remember seeing a Clovis point arrowhead when I was a kid, and being blown away--it was like a piece of fine art, as precisely made in its way as any machined part for the Space Shuttle.
   But still, the ancient Chinese would have had a task making the blade for a jet engine turbine.  Modern technology is generally the way to bet.

   Posted by  on  04/11  at  01:47 PM

2. I love the pattern on this sword

   Posted by  on  04/11  at  09:29 PM

3. It’s a looker, for sure.  But it’s a worthless as a weapon.  The metallurgical analysis shows it’s hardest at the spine and softest at the edge--the exact opposite of a Japanese katana, the finest swords ever made.
   But katana are more subtle looking (except for the heavily engraved shrine blades).
   I really like the writing on it, though--those “birds and worms” characters are awesome, almost like an alien language.

   Posted by  on  04/12  at  03:32 PM

4. All I can say is,

   EXCALIBURRRRR!!!

   Posted by  on  04/12  at  07:54 PM
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