Mushroom hunter unearths gorgeous Bronze Age sword

Roman Novák was out hunting for edible mushrooms in a forest near his home in the Czech Republic when he saw some metal sticking out of some stones , rather than draw the metal from the stones he kicked it and saw it was a blade , not just any blade but a sword dating back to the Bronze Age.


Close up of the decorations on the sword's hilt.

The ancient sword is especially striking in appearance: Its pommel and hilt are intricately decorated with engraved circles and rows of crescent-shaped marks, and although the blade is broken near the hilt it is otherwise complete.

"At the moment, we are thoroughly traversing the site and looking for other possible finds," archaeologist Jiří Juchelka from the Silesian Museum told Live Science in an email. The site was well away from contemporary towns and known prehistoric settlements, he said, in an "archaeologically marginal" area where no other finds had been reported.

Juchelka and his colleagues have completed several analyses of the artifacts, including tests of its chemical make-up and X-ray scans to reveal internal structures.

They've established that the ornately decorated bronze sword was crafted during the Bronze Age in northern Europe — and appears most similar to "Vasby" swords, named after a town in Sweden where an early example was found.

The types of metals used in the sword indicate it was probably made outside the region where it was found, while the bronze axe may be a local production, he said.

Juchelka told Radio Prague International that the sword would have been an expensive item at the time, when the Urnfield culture was just emerging in central Europe — a Bronze-Age culture so-called because of the practice of burying the dead in urns in fields.
www.livescience.com...

Of course you can't have a Bronze Age sword for dinner but hey , your family's loss is our gain , nice find Roman.

a reply to: gortex

Nice find, Gortex!

a reply to: gortex

thats simply stunning, to see such craftsmanship, thinking about the skills needed and tools required, ok they had time on their hands but I am in awe of the quality and a little jealous of not being able to produce something myself that will be around in 3000 - 5000 years time

a reply to: gortex

For a bronze age sword it is in superb condition, a beautiful if once deadly find.

While it was probably just a status symbol and may never have seen use I do wonder if those nick's along the blades edge are merely corrosion or could they be nick's from an ancient fight perhaps from the time it was lost - OR offered to the earth or a pool or some such as was found often in the Celtic world.

Weapons like this are a contradiction, on the one hand they were made so utterly beautifully but on the other hand when used they were used for the ugliest of purpose.

One hell of a find. That's awesome.

wait wait....no King Arthur comments????

a reply to: gortex

When you pull the sword out of the stone, don't you get to be king?

originally posted by: chr0naut
a reply to: gortex

When you pull the sword out of the stone, don't you get to be king?

No there is an existing (well kinda) royal family for that region a guy named Crown Prince Otto was the rightful heir but he died in 2011. One of his descendant's probably the eldest born child (Andrea von Habsburg ) is the current 'title' holder.

en.wikipedia.org...

en.wikipedia.org...

I suggest a duel

originally posted by: gortex

C

Nice fine what a great story would behind its being made, owned and lost.

It would be worthwhile to put in some test pits to see if a burial, campsite, habitation or battle might have taken place at that location.

a reply to: Hanslune

Naw. It was bought by a guy named Jim at trade-days a few years ago, then during a larp twisted an ankle and dropped it screaming “time out, time out!”. Then Jim and his friend Geoffrey returned to the site and couldn’t find it.
Still a good story though.

a reply to: gortex

Thank you for sharing this! Amazing find! I wonder what it is worth.

a reply to: gortex


Is that Phonecian?

originally posted by: UpIsNowDown
a reply to: gortex

thats simply stunning, to see such craftsmanship, thinking about the skills needed and tools required, ok they had time on their hands but I am in awe of the quality and a little jealous of not being able to produce something myself that will be around in 3000 - 5000 years time

They had no more time on their hands than we do today, we live in a generation where people can play videogames all day or eat until they get massive.

Mushroom forager. You don’t hunt mushrooms...

a reply to: gortex

Mushroom forager. You don’t hunt mushrooms...

a reply to: gortex

originally posted by: Hanslune

originally posted by: gortex

C

Nice fine what a great story would behind its being made, owned and lost.

It would be worthwhile to put in some test pits to see if a burial, campsite, habitation or battle might have taken place at that location.

Looking at the Jesenicka region in the Bronze Age, it is all mountain streams and forests. As the sword appears to have been ritually broken at the handle, i would hazard a guess that there was a sacred glade / grove / spring in this area.

a reply to: chr0naut

Words and tones

originally posted by: Flavian

originally posted by: Hanslune

originally posted by: gortex

C

Nice fine what a great story would behind its being made, owned and lost.

It would be worthwhile to put in some test pits to see if a burial, campsite, habitation or battle might have taken place at that location.

Looking at the Jesenicka region in the Bronze Age, it is all mountain streams and forests. As the sword appears to have been ritually broken at the handle, i would hazard a guess that there was a sacred glade / grove / spring in this area.

That is certainly a possibility. It has always been a habit of mine to consider how and why something might be where it is. In one excavation we found a bronze box within a wall (Kalavasos en.wikipedia.org...) We thought we had made a significant find but no the metal box was empty. Why put a 22 x 18 x 8 cm box inside a stone wall with no way to get to it (other than tear it down?) We had the box checked for everything - believing it might have contained something that disintegrated but no nothing. Or a set of stone tools worked on and then left on a mountain ledge? Many are the mysteries.

Always interesting to consider.

originally posted by: Rob808
Mushroom forager. You don’t hunt mushrooms...

a reply to: gortex

Perhaps you don't but many do.

Mushroom hunting
Mushroom hunting, mushrooming, mushroom picking, mushroom foraging, and similar terms describe the activity of gathering mushrooms in the wild, typically for food.
en.wikipedia.org...

yes i seen it as well But he did Make one mistake HE kicked it from the stones if he had pulled it he would have been KING !!
the close up photos are amazing fine detail work by the forger very nice would love to have it .