The Design Toscano sword being scanned. It is dusted with white powder to improve the scan quality. My holiday break is officially over, which means I'm back in the office and will be spending more time on things like research and teaching and less time on things like "Roman swords" and giants. That doesn't mean #Swordgate is over for me, however: it just means that I'll probably be writing with less frequency (most of my blogging is done at home).
Swordgate is important, and I will be seeing it through to the bitter end. That bitter end, I think, will include a fairly convincing demonstration that the alleged "Roman sword" from Nova Scotia is nothing of the sort. My prediction is that the sword will be thrown in the ever-growing garbage heap of artifacts associated with fraudulent, fantastical claims about pre-Norse contact between the Old World and the New. And the credibility of the claimants (J. Hutton Pulitzer and the Ancient Artifact Preservation Society) will go in garbage with it.
That's just a prediction, of course. But my BS detector has been pretty accurate on this one so far. Unless someone pulls a lot of really convincing evidence out of a museum in Italy somewhere, I'm skeptical that whatever is in the "white paper" (if we ever see it) can salvage the case for this "100 percent confirmed" Roman artifact.
I'm working on producing a good 3D scan of the Design Toscano sword right now. The California sword will be on the way here soon, I hope, and I've got my fingers crossed that I'll be able to look at some other swords firsthand.
I really do think that Swordgate has been a great example of a team effort, and I'm looking forward to keeping it going. Please keep sending me emails if you have any new information to contribute, and I'll do my best to keep pushing forward and to keep you updated as possible.
Swordgate is important, and I will be seeing it through to the bitter end. That bitter end, I think, will include a fairly convincing demonstration that the alleged "Roman sword" from Nova Scotia is nothing of the sort. My prediction is that the sword will be thrown in the ever-growing garbage heap of artifacts associated with fraudulent, fantastical claims about pre-Norse contact between the Old World and the New. And the credibility of the claimants (J. Hutton Pulitzer and the Ancient Artifact Preservation Society) will go in garbage with it.
That's just a prediction, of course. But my BS detector has been pretty accurate on this one so far. Unless someone pulls a lot of really convincing evidence out of a museum in Italy somewhere, I'm skeptical that whatever is in the "white paper" (if we ever see it) can salvage the case for this "100 percent confirmed" Roman artifact.
I'm working on producing a good 3D scan of the Design Toscano sword right now. The California sword will be on the way here soon, I hope, and I've got my fingers crossed that I'll be able to look at some other swords firsthand.
I really do think that Swordgate has been a great example of a team effort, and I'm looking forward to keeping it going. Please keep sending me emails if you have any new information to contribute, and I'll do my best to keep pushing forward and to keep you updated as possible.
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