Swiss archaeologists piece together 14th-century gauntlet
Excavations in Kyburg in canton Zurich have uncovered a 14th-century armour glove in exceptional condition.
To date, only five gauntlets dating from the 14th century have been discovered in Switzerland, according to the Zurich cantonal infrastructure department on Tuesday. However, their state of preservation is nowhere near that of the glove found in Kyburg.
During the winter of 2021/22, the archaeologists found all the iron parts. Some of the fingers had completely escaped corrosion enabling specialists to recognise a particularly high number of manufacturing and decorative details.
The metal parts of the glove were originally riveted to a leather glove. The 25 pieces were also firmly attached to each other, giving the glove great flexibility.
A copy of this armour glove will be on display at Kyburg Castle from the end of March as part of its permanent exhibition, complemented by a reconstruction of the rest of the armour. The original will be on display for three weeks in September.
Weaving cellar and forge on site
Archaeological excavations were carried out on the site of a new house being built in the village of Kyburg. They uncovered a medieval weaving cellar that had been destroyed by fire in the 14th century. A blacksmith probably worked in the immediate vicinity, as the archaeologists also found a mould, around 50 metal objects such as hammers, keys, projectile points and the armour glove in question.
It is not yet known who the glove belonged to, or why this type of object is so rarely found. Scientific work must now establish whether armour gloves were so rare at the time or whether they were melted down.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.