A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 41. - 1999 (Nyíregyháza, 1999)
Régészet - Kristian Kristiansen: Understanding Bronze Age weapon hoards. Observations from the Zalkod and Vaja hoards, Northeastern Hungary
Understanding Bronze Age Weapon Hoards. Fig. 5 Vaja-Ravaszhegy. Upper part of the flange hilted sword with traces of edge damage under the hilt 5. kép Vaj a-Ravaszhegy. A sérülések nyomai a nyélnyújtványos kard felső részén rapier type blade which is severely edge damaged on one side under the hilt (Fig. 5). From the middle of the blade and towards the edge there appears a series of unrepaired cut marks, and in one place there is an incurved repair of an earlier damage. The pointed end of the blade is more sharpened, so that the outer profile of the blade is disappearing. The sharpening is from slight towards moderate, rather moderate, as there is some levelling of profile. The short flange hilted sword has likewise edge damage under the hilt, and a series of unrepaired cut marks towards the point, which at one time broke off, and was resharpened (Fig. 6). Overall the sharpening is slight to moderate, mostly moderate as altering of profile occurs. The full hilted sword demonstrates two innovations: ricasso under the hilt to catch up the blow from an attacking sword, and a small hole through the upper hilt to allow a leather strap to be fastened around the hand, so that the sword could not be lost in combat, and could be held loose in some situations: wear indicates this interpretation on many swords, which corresponds to a modern police baton. The blade has been damaged in combat, but has been resharpened. In one place towards the point a more serious damage created an incurving edge when repaired. One edge side is sharp, the other blunt, suggesting that there was only one way of holding the sword in combat. The evidence suggests that this sword was used in a single combat, and repaired just before deposition. Therefore I classify the blade as non sharpened (on its way towards moderate), as there is no alteration of profile. The hilt shows no clear traces of wear, and the whole sword was rather new when deposited. Conclusion Swords in hoards hold a great information potential both as to the composition of the hoards (was it one or several depositions), and as to the use of the swords their life story materialized in use-wear (enabling us to define different chronological groups and functional Fig. 6 Vaja-Ravaszhegy. Point and blade end of the short flange hilted sword with cut marks from attack 6. kép Vaj a-Ravaszhegy. A támadáskor kapott vágások nyomai a rövidebb nyélnyújtványos kard alsó részén 105