Spatha Roman Sword

A rare complete find by a man walking his dog by the River Lugg - only one of 8 in the countryA man walking his dog along the bank of the river Lugg saw, at the edge of the river, what he thought it was a barrel hoop. It turned out to be a remarkable find; a Roman sword; a spatha dated to the 2nd-3rd century AD and rare in Britain. It is one of only eight in the country, most of these were recovered from Roman military sites or graves. The only other Roman sword that, like this sword, may be classed as 'accidental loss' was found near Chichester. A Roman soldier may have lost it or it is possible that it was a ritual offering to a water god. It seems to have been deliberately bent as part of a ritual but may have been bent in a process by which Spanish spatha were tested for quality where they would bend the blade which would resume it is shape when released.

The iron for the sword may well have come from the nearby Forest of Dean and could have been processed at the metal working site of Ariconium.

A rare complete find by a man walking his dog by the River Lugg - only one of 8 in the country