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A scuba diver in Israel discovered a 900-year-old sword off the country's Mediterranean coast that experts say likely belonged to a Crusader knight.
The man, identified as Shlomi Katzin, was on a dive Saturday in northern Israel when he came upon a trove of ancient artifacts including pottery, anchors and the nearly 4-foot-long sword, Israel’s Antiquities Authority said Monday.
Incredible find, just imagine the kinds of things that sword has seen.
Well, nine centuries worth of fish passersby, anyway.
I'm not sure how much can be known about the sword at this point. Presumably, it was been tentatively dated from other items in the trove. But the sword was found a bit south of Haifa, and 900 years ago was the year 1121 - at that time, the location was part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, over two decades after the end of the First Crusade and another two decades before the start of the Second Crusade. Now, I don't for a minute presume that it has been dated to precisely 900 years BP, but the Kingdom of Jerusalem didn't exist without a great deal of military presence, and one can expect swords such as this one to be wielded (and lost at sea) by normal garrison troops and not necessarily crusaders.
There seems to be an intent to give this sword a history that it may well not have had.
How is got there is the mystery... was there horseplay on the ship and someone dropped it, after which there was laughter and alot of teasing going on? Was it bought or stolen by someone who realized later the muscle needed to successfully and repeatedly use a heavy four foot sword and decided just to toss it out of frustration? A burial at sea of a soldier and his trusty weapon? ... who knows...
The made in Taiwan marking confirms that Jerusalem had early contact and trade with Asia!!!
err wait a second.
Cool find though. Agreed the calls are a little early as to what the find is though.
They did actually - trade with Asia in the middle ages and earlier. Nearby Antioch was a major trading depot between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
The sword was likely forged in Europe somewhere, probably a trade ship to provide goods in the markets of the Middle East. It was thus likely never used. How it got there is no mystery really. Ships go down for a variety of reasons - storms, foundered on a rocks near the shore, battle with pirates, etc.
It's badly encrusted by the sea and that's likely the only thing holding it together, it's possible however that some research by experts looking into the blade quality and design can likely tell where it was forged.
Israeli law requires any artifacts found to be returned to the country.
Darn it
I was wondering whether the guy had the option of keeping the sword for himself.
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