Transmission patterns in the production of Bronze Age solid- hilted swords

International audienceBronze Age swords with a bronze hilt were a highly specialised production. Casting hilts and blades and fixing them to each other require lots of precision and very specific skills. We hardly know anything about the production organisation as moulds are extremely rare, preventing us from locating workshops. However, studying swords themselves using X-ray imaging techniques allows us to reconstruct a part of the chaîne opératoire and gain insight into some aspects of the production processes. We identify three periods in the production of solid-hilted swords at the European scale:1. Experimental phase (1800-1450 BC): small-scaled productions by multiple workshops experimenting various ways of making swords.2. “Monopoly” phase (1450-900 BC): swords are produced in a very standardised way in a few very specialised workshops.3. Break phase (900-800 BC): major shift in the aspect of the swords coming along with the development of various technological traditions connected to many versatile production units.The “monopoly” phase corresponds to the outbreak of a well-defined production process in the middle of the 15th century BC thanks to the experimentations of the first swords makers. During more than five centuries, almost all solid-hilted swords were made the exact same way: hollow wax-cast hilts were fixed to the blades by locking both parts together before adding two rivets. These techniques were reproduced by many generations of craftsmen without any significant changes during more than five centuries, suggesting well-established transmission and training systems. On the other hand, efforts were probably made to prevent widespread transmission to a large community of craftsmen, as imitations prove the techniques were not known in every production groups.At the very end of the Bronze Age (9th century BC), structural changes occur in the production of solid-hilted swords. Besides a deep stylistic shift, various production techniques are then identified. At this time, sword production seems to have opened to several less specialised and more versatile workshops, with significantly different production qualities. An interruption of knowledge transmission could be involved in the major variations in metalwork productions at the end of the period