Sword: In 1940, an iron sword was dredged up out of the River Lek, near Wijk bij Duurstede. It dates from the early 10th century and its hilt has a semicircular pommel. The blade was made using a very special technique: damascening. In this process, the iron is repeatedly heated and forged from alternating carbon-rich (hard and brittle) and carbon-poor (soft and pliable) iron. A sword must be both hard and pliable, and this process produced the ideal composition. On this sword, the inscription +ATABALD+II was added in the damascening. This may have been related to the Utrecht bishop Adabald (866-699).