Rare Bronze Age Sword Found at Secret New Site in the Czech Republic
In the region of Richnov in northeast Bohemia, a bronze age Rare Sword was found in excellent condition.
The blade is intact with its hilt and the gravel of its decorative fine lines along its edge is clearly visible to the naked eye while the handle is long gone. It is still sharp in its cutting edge.
In recent decades it has been one of just five prehistoric swords found in the Czech Republic.
A Boy Monty and his owner in the region of Rychnov just last year have discovered a Bronze Age sickle hoard, but it’s been 130 years since a prehistoric sword was found around there and that was an iron antenna sword from the Early Iron Age.
The sword dates to around 1200 B.C. and was produced by the Lusatian culture, a Late Bronze Age agrarian society that ranged over what is now Poland, eastern Germany, and the western Czech Republic.
Lusatian artifacts are rich on the ground in eastern Bohemia, often found in hoards like Monty’s.
The sword find is unusual not only because so few of them have ever been discovered, but also because it was made at a location where no known Lusatian settlement or archaeological material has been recovered before.
It was found by a private individual who reported it to the Rychnov Museum on Saturday, November 2nd and handed it in the next morning.
He had no idea of its age or historic significance until a friend told him to alert the museum.
Archaeologists searched the find site and discovered rivets used to attach the sword’s handle. (The handle was made of organic material that has long since decomposed.) They also found a bronze spearhead from the same period.
Rychnov Museum archaeologist Martina Beková believes the sword was a ritual deposit, likely buried on its own as a votive offering to a deity.
The spearhead is from around the same period, but it does not appear to have been buried together with the sword.
The exact find site is being kept the secret to prevent looters from disturbing it before archaeologists are able to explore it thoroughly.
The artifacts will be conserved and stabilized for future display at the Rychnov Museum.
Since the only other prehistoric sword discovered in the area is now in the National Museum in Prague, this will be a centerpiece of the museum’s collection.
