Sword of Grand Duchy of Lithuania epoch and ancient anchor found at bottom of Western Dvina in Polotsk

27 сентября 2022
A medieval sword was found at the bottom of the Western Dvina River in Polotsk. The first studies gave a more precise dating: the turn of the XV-XVI centuries, the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The artifact was noticed by a Polotsk rescuer during the underwater hunt.

It was not his only "catch": at his prompting a sunken anchor was pulled out from the river bottom. Now it is in the hands of historians, who will try to find the story of this message from the past.

A team of restorers is working with the weapon. They performed spectral analysis: the blade and guard are made of hardened high-carbon steel, the tip is of iron, and the blade has brass incrustation. The advantageous geographical position, the high status of the city, as a result - the history of Polotsk is the history of wars. Therefore military artifacts make up a large part of the museum expositions.

The most famous weapon find is a Viking sword that was raised from the ground in 1956 during the construction of one of the buildings of  Polotsk Fiberglass. There are more than a hundred pieces of weapons and ammunition in the city's local history museum collection, but the 10th-century sword is a rarity.

Quite a few such rarities have been preserved for posterity. Among them is the armor of a medieval knight, found by a schoolgirl from Polotsk while swimming.

Archeologists  say it's time to send a large-scale expedition along the rivers of Polotsk. Yesterday, an ancient anchor was extracted from the Western Dvina. Now the find is waiting for its turn in the restoration workshop.