The Artifact: The Sword of Gōu Jiàn

In this episode of STBYM’s The Artifact, Robert discusses an ancient Chinese sword noted for its unusual sharpness and resistance to tarnish...

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and
this is the Artifact, a short form series from Stuff
to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on particular objects, ideas,
and moments in time. As we've discussed before on Stuff

(00:23):
to Blow Your Mind, gold is a special element. Particles
of gold can linger on a river bed for centuries
and retain all their luster and beauty, and the same
can be said for golden artifacts buried in the earth,
but not so with other metal creations. Consider the sword.
As instruments of war, they require strength and sharpness, so

(00:45):
malleable gold is a poor choice of materials, and so
swords tend to rust, whether dropped on the field of
battle or buried in a stately tomb. In the film Conan,
the Barbarian our muscular hero liberates a word from an
ancient crypt and it's ready to use, sharp and unrusted,

(01:05):
despite untold century stuck away in a tomb. We can
forgive the film for this, since it deals with the
world of magic, and perhaps it's Atlantean Smith's mastered arts
that allowed it to endure. One of the closest things
in real life however, is the sword of Gojin. Archaeologists

(01:28):
believe this resplendent bronze weapon belonged to Gojin, who ruled
the Kingdom of You from four to four sixty five
b c. His ownership is identified in writing on the
blade itself. When the king died, his sword was buried
with him and remained there for more than two thousand years. Then,

(01:49):
in nineteen sixty five, a team of archaeologists in Hubei
Province unearthed the water logged tomb, and amid the many
undisturbed artifacts, they found the sword. Suffice to say, a
cone in the Barbarian would have been pleased because the
sword of Gojin was remarkably well preserved. Not only was
it largely untarnished, but it was sharp, reportedly able to

(02:10):
cut through twenty pieces of hard paper. According to the
Hubei Department of Culture, Again, this was no Atlantean magic sword,
but a bronze blade. How had it survived so long
in a flooded tomb. Part of it is the sword's composition.
According to Chu lang Hu in a study published in
Chinese Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology,

(02:32):
the sword was smelted from tin bronze, and the pattern
of decoration on the surface contains black copper sulfide. The
tin and the weapon's edges helped it retain its sharpness,
and the sulfur helped decreased tarnishing. More to the point, however,
the sword passed the centuries in a sheath that was
nearly air tight. It's just like if the Lady of

(02:53):
the Lake stored Excalibur in a big ziploc bag before
taking it with her into the depths. Tune in for
additional editions of the artifact every week, hosted by either
Joe or myself. As always, you can email us at
contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff

(03:19):
to Blow Your Mind is production of I Heart Radio.
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