Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften

Abstract:
The Merovingian period cemetery of Überackern is assigned to the 7th and early 8th centuries AD based on documented archaeological material. The four seaxes from the cemetery were selected for typological and technological investigations as part of investigations on early medieval weapons from Upper Austria. Three of the four weapons from Überackern are long seaxes, which occur in the last third of the 7th century and represent the typical seax form of the 8th century. The oldest exemplar belongs to the group of the light broad seaxes and dates back to the first half of the 7th century. The results of the metallographic analysis show that the four seaxes from Überackern have clear technological parallels. In both, the light broad seax and the three long seaxes, cutting material made of hard steel was welded to back material made of soft but more resilient iron. This method was found in seven of the nine examined seaxes from Upper Austria. Another process that can be regarded as the technological standard of the 7th and 8th centuries is the hardening of blades by heating them to red or white heat and quenching them in water or special liquids. This technique has been found in all seax blades from Upper Austria investigated so far. In this article, two qualitative groups were identified for the first time. A comparison of the hardness values and microstructure patterns shows that four of the nine seax blades investigated – two of them from Überackern – were successfully hardened, while five specimens had only slightly increased hardness values. In summary, it can be said that the seaxes from Überackern were suitable for combat use and met the technological standards of their time. It is important to point out that two of the long seaxes from this cemetery were of high quality.