Iron sword of the Scythian and Sarmatian times in the Altai steppes

Purpose. We examined a quite rare finding, an iron sword with an ancipitous edge, a long right two-edged blade, a lamellar guard and a butterfly-shaped pommel, which was accidently discovered at the beginning of the 20th century in the outskirts of Solonovka village in the territory of Altai. After the discovery, the sword was given to the museum of the Western Siberian department of the Russian Geographical Society situated in Omsk. Results. Presently, the finding of an ancient long-blade weapon is kept in the archaeological collection of the Omsk museum of local lore. We provide a detailed description of the features of the sword. It has an acute-angled edge, a long right two-edged blade, with the lower part tetrahedral in the section, and the upper one flattened and rhombic. The sword is equipped with a lamellar guard, a right flattened handle and a butterfly-shaped pommel. We trace analogies to that finding among objects of long blade horsemen weapons found as accompanying inventory at several archaeological monuments of the Scythian an Sarmatian times, which were studied in the previous decades on the territory of Central Asia and contiguous regions of Eurasian Steppe. We also describe major events of finding and studying similar swords on the territory of Altai Steppes and forest-steppes. We try to determine the chronology and some cultural characteristic of our finding of a long-blade weapon. Judging by the analogies available and traced within the bounds of the studied region and contiguous territories, the accidently discovered sword from Solonovka village (on the territory of the Rubtsovskii District of Altai) has to be related to the culture of ancient nomads who resided on that territory in the Scythian and Sarmatian times. Few swords with long right two-edged blades have been found on those territories of the Altai Steppes and Western Siberia. That quite rare finding of a long-blade weapon could be related to the second half of the Iron Age. Conclusion. Iron swords with long right two-edged blades applied by ancient mounted warriors of the Scythian times in the Altai Steppes appreciably widened their capabilities for assault manoeuvres against hostile forces in close combats. The finding of this sword in the outskirts of the Solonovka village on the territory of Altai can testify that such type of blade weapons was accepted in the inventory by ancient nomads of the Altai Steppes in the second half of the 1st millennium A. D. We also analyzed the history of developing blade weapons present in the Scythian and Sarmatian cultures within the bounds of Central Asia and Eurasian Steppe.