The sword in the sea: How one lucky graduate student found his second Crusader sword while taking a swim off Israel’s coast
A sword dating back to the Crusades spent centuries buried in sand and barnacles off Israel’s Mediterranean coast, until a student spotted its hilt protruding from the seabed.
Shlomi Katzin, a graduate student in the Department of Maritime Civilizations at the University of Haifa, saw a group of divers equipped with metal detectors while she was swimming and feared they were antiquities thieves, according to a translated report. statement of the university. After chasing the group away, Katzin noticed the hilt of the sword in the sand.
“This is an extremely rare discovery that sheds light on the presence of the Crusaders on the country’s coasts,” Cvikel said in the statement. She noted that “only a handful of similar swords dating from the Crusader period” (AD 1095 to 1291) are known in the country, and that this “discovery contributes greatly to our understanding of the use of maritime anchorages and the lives of warriors during this period.”
During the CrusadesWestern European Christians waged a series of religious wars against Muslims, largely to gain control of the Holy Land. These religious wars were led by European knights sanctioned by the Catholic Pope. Artifacts like swords and shields reveal just how gruesome the fighting was during this era.
This new weapon from the 12th century now offers archaeologists a rare insight into the movements of medieval warriors along the Mediterranean coast. The researchers used a hospital CT scan to non-invasively view the inside of the sword without having to scrape off marine buildup embedded on its iron core.
The analysis revealed how harsh the sea can be on ancient artifacts, as the blade appeared fractured and only a small part of the original iron core remained. However, this showed that the sword was designed for one-handed combat and its construction indicated that it probably belonged to a crusader, perhaps a Frank.
“In the Middle Ages, the sword became a symbol of knights and chivalry, as well as a symbol of the Christian faith”, Sarah Lantosresearcher at the Department of Maritime Civilizations at the School of Archeology and Maritime Civilizations at the University of Haifa, said in the statement. “The discovery and study of such a symbolic and personal object is rare and enriches our knowledge of the material culture of the Crusader period. In addition, it offers us a unique opportunity to learn about the life of the Frankish knights in the Holy Land.”
Research into the sword is ongoing. The previous sword discovered by Katzin in 2021 also dated from the Crusades. Typically, swords were not discarded during this period because their metal was valuable and could be recycled. It is therefore likely that the owners of these swords lost them at sea, which would probably have been a problem. difficulties or even fatal.
