A bronze sword mistaken for a fake turned out to be a real weapon of ancient times

Artifacts found occasionally by archaeologiststurn out to be more interesting than it seems at first. In the 1930s, in the waters of the European Danube River, scientists found a bronze sword that had faded from old age. In all its appearance, it looked like a Hungarian weapon of the Bronze Age, but scientists decided that it was just a copy made during the Middle Ages or later. For almost a century, this ancient artifact lay in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, marked "copy". However, in 2022, a Hungarian archaeologist visited the museum and announced that this artifact was real.

Sword thought to be fake turns out to be real

Content

• 1 Bronze sword of ancient times
• Why is bronze better than iron?
• 3 Ancient bronze weapons in the museum
• 4 Ancient sword is a common find

Bronze sword of ancient times

According to anthropology curator WilliamParkinson (William Parkinson), when they were preparing for the exhibition, an archaeologist who asked not to disclose his name in just 20 seconds announced the authenticity of the ancient sword. However, Parkinson did not blindly believe the words of the guest and decided to study the artifact using X-rays. According to the results of the analysis, it turned out that the weapon consists of an alloy of tin and copper - the swords of the Bronze Age found by scientists earlier have the same composition. That is, the archaeologist was right, and for many years the museum staff dealt with real weapons, not fake ones.

Bronze sword 3000 years old

Why is bronze better than iron?

In ancient times, people made weapons fromvarious copper alloys (bronze) because iron was not as common as it is now. Bronze is more resistant to corrosion, thanks to which it is well preserved to this day. In addition, this material has high strength, perfectly holds sharpening and bends over a wide range - if such a weapon was deformed during a battle, it could be straightened in a forge and used again.

In some aspects, bronze is several times better than iron.

Another advantage of bronze was itsflexibility - it made it possible to create blades of a very complex shape. For example, the Egyptian khopesh and the ancient Greek mahaira were made from a copper alloy. However, the specimen found in the waters of the Danube is straight and does not stand out for its particularly elegant forms. Nevertheless, it is already over 3000 years old and perfectly preserved - this is a very interesting artifact from a historical point of view. Given that it has long been considered fake, it has now become an even more curious specimen.

Bronze sword found in the Danube River

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Ancient weapons made of bronze in the museum

According to William Parkinson, usually allthe opposite happens - museum staff consider the artifact to be real, and then it turns out that it is a fake. It is not necessary to look for an example for a long time, because relatively recently the employees of the library of the University of Michigan discovered that the letter they had from the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei was nothing more than an ordinary forgery made by an unknown forger Tobia Nicotra, who was especially active between 1920 and 1930s.

Fake manuscript by Galileo Galilei

Knowing that the bronze sword is real,employees of the Chicago Museum began to take an interest in its history. At the moment, they believe that the weapon ended up in the waters of the Danube between 1080 and 900 BC. He did not fall into the waters of the river by accident - most likely, he was thrown on purpose, for ritual purposes. Perhaps by throwing the sword into the river, the unknown warrior wanted to mark the end of the battle. Another version says that in this way he honored the death of a loved one or comrade. Such rituals were very common in Europe at that time.

Museum staff put an ancient sword under glass

An ancient sword that over the yearswas considered a medieval forgery and did not receive much attention, will become one of the main exhibits of the exhibition “The First Kings of Europe”, which is being prepared in March 2023. It will be the first thing that visitors will see when entering the main hall of the museum.

The ancient sword will be the main exhibit of the exhibition "The First Kings of Europe"

Here's another interesting find: A fake coin of antiquity turned out to be real - it depicts a forgotten historical figure

Ancient Sword - Common Find

In general, swords are one of the bestsurviving artifacts from ancient times. Sometimes they are discovered not by professional archaeologists during excavations, but by amateurs. In 2020, an amateur archaeologist found a 3,000-year-old Scottish warrior's sword while scanning around Scotland with a metal detector. In addition to ancient weapons, he found caps from the wheels of horse carts and decorations for horse equipment in the ground.

The discovery of ancient swords in archeology is not uncommon

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Or here's another example - in 2021, an amateurscuba diving dived into the water, near the Israeli city of Atlit. At the bottom, he managed to find a 900-year-old sword covered with shells, as well as ceramic dishes and anchors of ancient swimming facilities. You can read about this amazing and accidental discovery in this material.