The legendary tale of King Arthur tells of him extracting the magical Excalibur sword from the stone in which it was crafted.
In a somewhat reminiscent fashion, archaeologists have uncovered a 700-year-old weapon entwined in rock at the bottom of a lake.
The sword dating back to the 14th century was unearthed in the Vrbas River, near the village of Rakovice in the northern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Embedded into a sturdy piece of rock 36 feet below the surface and remaining trapped underwater for an extended period, the sword has now been named ‘Excalibur’ in reference to the legendary King Arthur tale.
Weapons experts are celebrating this medieval discovery as a significant archaeological breakthrough.
Ivana Pandzic, an archaeologist and curator at the Museum of the Republika Srpska, emphasized the careful extraction needed to free the rusted weapon.
The sword was firmly lodged in solid rock, requiring special care during the removal process.
“This is the first sword found near the medieval city of Zvečaj, so it has dual value – both scientifically and historically,” she said.
She added that only one other sword from this period has been found in the Balkans over the past 90 years.
Analysis of the blade shows that the sword dates back to the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 15th century.
The sword was discovered near the ruins of a medieval castle in the city of Zvecaj, which was once the seat of Bosnian rulers.
In its early days, the medieval village of Zvecaj had its own nobility and was built around a now-ruined castle located on the left bank of the Mreznica river in the modern county of Karlovac.
After a long and turbulent history, the castle was destroyed in 1777, and today, a private house sits on the ruins of the castle walls with parts of the remaining tower.
Although most mythologists and historians agree that the legend of King Arthur’s Excalibur is a metaphor for the extraction of iron ore from stone and the advent of the Iron Age, in the real world, other medieval swords have been found thrust into stones, as was the case in Tuscany’s Montesiepi Chapel.
Historians are now attempting to ascertain how it became embedded in the rock and the reasons behind it.