A non-destructive investigation of two Cypriot Bronze Age knife blades using neutron diffraction residual stress analysis

Abstract

Abstract. This paper presents the results of a residual stress analysis that is part of a wider study of Cypriot Bronze Age knife and other weapon blades from a corpus of artefacts held by a number of institutions in Australia. The current focus is on knives from Early/Middle Bronze Age burial sites at Bellapais Vounous, Cyprus; a significant number of the blades were found on excavation to be bent. The aim of the study was to provide, by means of non-destructive neutron residual stress analysis, likely insights into fabrication methodologies of the knives and determine the stage in the life of each knife blade at which bending occurred. Two Vounous knives from the Australian Institute of Ar..