Sword, Lockerbie

This exceptional almost complete sword is 3000 year old, and found in fields around Lockerbie. This wonderful bronze sword is almost complete. It is only missing the upper portion of the hilt, a tiny section of the tip and the biodegradable part of the hilt.   The blade is leaf shaped and the blade edges are relatively sharp, but don't have well defined bevelled edges. This probably means it was cast and cleaned, but never sharpened (and so not used). It may have been made especially for deposit as an offering to the gods or ancestors. There is no context for the item although excavations at Lockerbie Academy last year turned up other Bronze Age objects, so it is clear people were living in the region 3000 years ago.   The sword was found 50 years ago by a local man who was working in the fields around Lockerbie. It was offered by the late finder's family as Treasure Trove last year and purchased by Annan Museum. Rare in Scotland, such swords are characteristic of the so-called Wilburton metalworking tradition, which marks the first stage of the British Late Bronze Age (from approximately mid-12th to late 11th century BC).