Sorry Ahmed,
I mean the study of the metal itself:
chemistry, crystal structure, hardnesses, impurities etc
as well as the particulars of the blade:
weight, length, width, cross-sectional changes
From a blacksmith point of view these are the most important to reconstruct the item. Its place in art, culture and religion is secondary. With a good basis of such information replicas can be made and tested....true replicas with similar properties.
Some swords are in poor enough condition that every time it is moved bits fall off...most of the time these bits are stored in the display case or in the box in the archives, but often they are thrown out....these bits can be analyzed and used to determine facts about the metal.
I am not aware of any studies about the metal in these pre-Islamic/early Islamic swords...that needs to change.
Ric
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