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.
Sword of Grand Duchy of Lithuania epoch and ancient anchor found at bottom of Western Dvina in Polotsk
27 сентября 2022












